


Reclaiming the deleted scenes

by GuiltyKingOumaShu



Category: Guilty Crown
Genre: AU, Comedy, Episodic Chapters, F/M, Spin-Off
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2018-05-27 03:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6267961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuiltyKingOumaShu/pseuds/GuiltyKingOumaShu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A spin-off series of episodic chapters regarding the GC cast. Some chapters will be funny, others will be cute and some will even be downright crazy. Having knowledge of the Reclaiming the Throne universe would be helpful, though probably not all that necessary. This fic will be a place for me to put in all the crazy/cute stuff I come up with but has no place anywhere in my normal stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Reclaiming the Throne](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3980593) by [GuiltyKingOumaShu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuiltyKingOumaShu/pseuds/GuiltyKingOumaShu). 



_ **Introduction:** _

_ **TL;DR** **: This series will consist of episodic comedy related chapters about Guilty crown which can play in three different universes. The normal Guilty Crown canon (anime events only), the Reclaiming the Throne universe (sequel to the anime, revolving around Shu and Inori becoming king and queen and waging war against Da'ath) and the Reclaiming the Throne ceasefire AU (Basically a Guilty Crown canon AU in which no one ever died and is getting along just fine)** _

_ **Longer explanation** **: This will be a short, episodic and oftentimes also nonsensical series revolving around the GC cast, telling primarily funny as well as sometimes cute little stories about them which are not meant to be taken seriously. The chapters themselves are products of people asking me random questions and me answering them with randomness. They will not link to each other, (hence being episodic) so it is always possible to skip them if you are not interested at all. You could also probably read them in whatever order you want. The only thing you will need to know is that it will be necessary to know in which universe they play in, since there are three possibilities:** _

_ **Guilty Crown canon** **: This is the normal Guilty crown universe known from the anime. If you are browsing the GC section of this site, you most likely already watched the anime, so you will likely always know what this universe is about.** _

_ **The Reclaiming the Throne universe** **: This is a universe created by me which tells a story about events that happened after the end of the anime. It mainly involves the reunion of Shu and Inori as well as the war they find themselves waging against Da'ath, Mana and the Japanese government. If you don't know Reclaiming the Throne, I guess it would be fair enough to imagine a scenario in which the fourth apocalypse from episode 22 failed, but neither Mana, nor Inori or Gai died. Instead, everyone just retreated and waited for another opportunity. Then, five years later, Mana and Da'ath return, making the life of Shu and Inori quite troublesome. That's not very accurate, but it will do, I suppose.** _

_**T he RtT ceasefire universe** **: Basically a Reclaiming the Throne AU in which Inori and Mana did not wage war with each other and managed to remain at peace, though still with a strained relationship. Due to the lack of hostility between the two kingdoms, they managed to cooperate and reach Shu sooner, causing him to enter the void realm and rescue them both under the condition that Mana does not revive the apocalypse virus. Agreeing to that, they return to the real world. After a calm and reasonable discussion with Shu, Mana will eventually realize that he will never accept his position as her Adam and thus will give up with a heavy heart. Though her sadness will be short lived since Gai will soon take Shu's place after confessing to Mana, which quickly heals her broken heart. Meanwhile, Da'ath will get distracted by internal conflicts, resulting in the postponement of their plans, granting Mana indefinite freedom. This will result in a peaceful world for all the characters to live in. Shu and Inori in particular will settle down and marry with the age of 21, having their first child at 22. The chapters using this universe will happen during a time period in which their daughter is 6 years old, meaning Shu and Inori will be 28 (though thanks to being Genesis, will still look like 21)  
If you do not know Reclaiming the Throne, it would be easiest to imagine this universe is basically a Guilty Crown AU in which no one ever died and everybody somehow getting more or less along. That's all.** _

_**Now let's get this party started:** _

* * *

**Reclaiming the deleted scenes**

**First chapter: Pink locusts**

**Universe: Reclaiming the Throne (ceasefire)**

**Theme: How would Shu and Inori do their cooking?**

The streets of Tokyo were calm and desolated as the scorching summer sun glared down on them, turning seemingly harmless asphalt into greyish lava for anyone foolish enough to walk on it bare-footed. That's right, Japan was hit by a heat wave so hot, you would pity the poor souls unfortunate enough to be out there on this lazy Sunday afternoon, getting cooked alive by mother nature itself. Maybe that was the reason why almost no one was seen walking outside right now, with everyone smart enough hiding away in the shadows of their homes, either enjoying the luxury of air conditioning or, if not wealthy enough to afford such pleasantries, at least dreaming of doing just that.

Such was also the fate of the Ouma family. While not exactly poor, the young family could at least not easily stem the financial drain of the electrical bill an air conditioner would have undoubtedly provided them with, alongside cooler air. Having just almost paid off their new very own apartment, Mama and Papa Ouma at least would like to put aside whatever little money they still had for a while to have funds available should unforeseeable costs be thrown at them. For it was always better to be safe than sorry. Especially if you were lucky enough to be blessed with such a happy and blissful life as they had. You wouldn't want to lose something so valuable now, would you?

Sometimes they could not believe their luck themselves, occasionally realizing how easily their lives could have turned out to be quite…perilous instead. Sometimes they would get troubled by nightmares of a locked down Tokyo. Of a war between Genesis and humans, of death and despair. In them, the king and queen would have to shoulder terrible burdens such as being Adam and Eve of the apocalypse, constantly fighting with the voices of their own consciences as to whether they should bring the end of the world or not. Words could oftentimes not describe some of the sheer horrors they had seen in those terrible dreams of theirs, but no matter their wickedness, Shu and Inori would eventually still wake from them and realize that they had all been nothing but illusions. Horrible, gruesome and fear-inspiring illusions, but illusions nonetheless.

They would sigh in relief, hold each other close while smiling into the warming hug of their destined other and shrug the catastrophic images off into oblivion once more, finding solace in how peaceful and wonderful reality happened to be instead.

There were no wars to be seen anywhere, the Genesis were free and happy, getting along just fine with the human population. Mana was docile and the apocalypse virus rested dormant in her hands, getting held firmly on the leash of its mistress as the woman herself currently held no desire to end the world at all. And how could she not, now that she got pretty much showered in the unconditional affection her new Adam provided her with? And Da'ath, the shadowy organization they know had existed back in the days of the fourth apocalypse, was simply gone from their lives as if they had never existed in the first place. The two monarchs did not know to which plane of existence they had suddenly vanished to and why they had done so in the first place, but as far as they were concerned, that cursed organization could stay right where they were until they, too, would ultimately slip into oblivion forever. Just like the memories of their nightmares always did.

Yep, what a wonderful life Shu and Inori could call their own instead, for not only was life peaceful for them, fate had also been especially generous to them by adding a bit to their happiness in the form of their adorable and sweet daughter of 6 years. The little princess had entered their lives like the boon she eventually turned out to be, continuing to grow and blossom like the beautiful flower she ultimately was to them. A blessed flower so to say, thus being named Hanae Ouma. Though the little bundle of energy was quite a handful to deal with at times, neither her mother nor her father would give her up for anything in the world. And rightfully so, for her mere existence was not only a marvel in itself, but also the embodiment of their love given shape in the form of new life. You could say that the girl, like many crystals her mother could create, was a crystallization of her parents' feelings for one another. And how could anything ever be more precious than that?

Their beautiful little wildflower turned out to be the mirror image of her mother with ruby eyes and smooth strawberry blonde hair, except for the single furthermost strand on the right side of her hair's parting. That strand turned out to be lighter of color for some reason. It almost appeared white, though if you looked closely; it was actually just a very, very faint pink. The strand itself was also the only unruly part of her hair, refusing to align itself with its brethren and instead choosing to curl up into the air as if it was ruling all the other strands of hair, sitting on an imaginary throne that was Hanae's head. The young princess had used to hate that little flaw and had whined about it a lot in the past. However, once she had noticed her father's similar strand of lighter brown in his very own hair, all her disdain had vanished immediately and turned into nothing but pride instead. Now the little girl wore it with a smile, getting reminded of her dear father whenever she saw it.

But even so, said girl was not smiling right now, as she lazily lay on the apartment's tatami flooring, using her mother's soft chest as a substitute for a proper pillow and groaning as she felt crushed by the unbelievable heat that surrounded her. She wore little more than her light orange summer dress which clung to her sweaty skin. Though she had actually liked the dress for all the colorful and pretty flower patterns that adorned it, given the current temperature, she would have rather worn nothing at all and merely run around in her underwear instead. But then again, that was a rather embarrassing thought, so she refrained from doing that.

Next to her, her mother lied, sharing the same troubled and tired facial expression her daughter currently sported. As she gently stroked Hanae's hair like one would with a cat, the queen sighed which was barely audible over the sound of the shrilling cicadas outside, being probably the only creatures in existence which actually appreciated the summer heat. She wore one of her husband's white T-shirts which were slightly oversized for her smaller frame, but made it all the more comfortable to laze around in. The shirt was actually so big, that you barely saw her dark blue hotpants under it. While her outfit might have not been the most graceful attire for a queen, the pinkette mother simply couldn't care less about how she looked like in private. Especially not when she felt as if she was being roasted alive right about now.

There was a small ventilator resting in the corner of the room, offering them a gentle breeze, but even that felt like nothing more but a drop in the bucket. The weak wind was barely able to tickle the toes of their bare feet which they had spread out on the floor where it undoubtedly was the coldest, given how warm air would always raise up to the ceiling and push the colder air down.

Little did it do, however, when the air as a WHOLE was hot as balls…

"Mom, it's hot…" Hanae whined with closed eyes, as if too powerless to even open them.

"I know, dear." Her mother replied with sympathy, though sharing the same whiny voice as well as expression.

"Can't we create ice? Or at least cold crystals?"

"I wish we could, but no. Unfortunately, any crystals we would make would assume the temperature around them. Inori told her while looking at her cell phone and reading a message from Mana that read something of the sort of: _"Poor Inori. Feeling hot, ain't you? Well, too bad you aren't Eve, right? One word: Temeprature correction! Triton's feelings are cooling me off so much, I wouldn't even know it was hot right now if he hadn't told me."_ A heart emoji was added at the end of her message

Frowning in disdain, Inori thus replied: _"Temperature correction are two words, sis."_

For a while, nothing happened, but eventually Mana answered with a: _"….I knew that, stupid."_ Followed by an angry smiley. Which was then followed by: _"I was going to be kind and tell you how to change the temperature of crystals, but since you are so damn clever, I am sure you will figure it out for yourself, right? Well, I am off. Cya."_

Panicked, Inori sat up with wide eyes, hammering into the holo-screen of her cell the following message:

" _Ah, I am sorry, Mana! Please tell me! We are dying over here!"_ To put emphasis on their peril she added a smiley that pressed its eyes closed tightly out of desperation. It consisted of a greater-than and a lesser-than symbol in place for the eyes with a little dot in between to take the place of the nose or mouth.

The pinkette clutched her phone in desperation, starring at the screen in hope of a miracle, but all she got afterwards was a: _"Seen: 13:47"_ Nothing followed that notification.

This caused the queen to sigh in disappointment as she spread her arms and allowed herself to fall back on the tatami mats present on the floor, closing her eyes in what seemed to be regret. Her daughter had watched her for a while and was now letting her head rest on her mother's belly as she looked up at her and asked in wonder:

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"Your aunt supposedly knows how to make cold crystals, but that woman won't tell me how it is done out of spite." The queen told her truthfully, causing the princess to sigh in disappointment as well as she narrowed her eyes on her mother.

"Did you make her angry again?"

Her mother averted her eyes in a somewhat flustered manner and replied: "I…might have…?"

"Mooooom!" Hanae got up and cried accusingly, causing her mother to immediately apologize in shame, putting her hands together in front of her face cutely so that just her fingertips would touch:

"I am sorry, honey. I didn't think she would take it that badly."

"Urgh, nevermind. You two will never change." The younger girl eventually sighed and gave up, letting herself fall on top of her mother. Inori could do little but mutter a quiet "Ouf" when the small girl crashed on top of her. Then it became quiet again as both girls tried to conserve their energy. Hanae merely snuggled up to her mother while the latter resumed her previous actions of stroking her sweet daughter's head absent-mindedly.

It was a peaceful scene and both of them might have enjoyed the peace and quiet under normal circumstances, but alas, the summer heat continued to ruin everything, making even relaxing an impossible task.

"Is this hell, mother?" The young princess couldn't help but eventually ask, starring up at the ceiling with a sorrowful expression.

"I am starting to feel like even hell would be cooler than this place…" Inori sighed exhaustedly.

That was the moment a deafening growl could be heard coming from their stomachs. They opened up their eyes in surprise, followed by rubbing their bellies weakly.

"I am sorry, Hanae. I don't think I can go on anymore…" Inori eventually said with a sad smile as she closed her eyes again, laying her free arm over her forehead as if to admit defeat.

"Eh? Don't die, mother! Don't leave me in this hell all on my own!" Her daughter suddenly got on her knees and shook her mother gently.

"I can see the light…" The queen continued to tease her daughter, only to get shaken even harder in return.

"Nooo, don't go there, Mom! Who's gonna buy me ice cream if you are gone?" She cried in despair. That's when a peculiar smell entered her nostrils, causing her to sniff around and turning her head towards the door that led to the hallway. Her spirits were lifted immediately as she pointed towards the entrance of the room eagerly.

"Mom, Mom! Do you smell that? It smells like food." She told her mother excitedly.

"Hm? Has Papa finished cooking?" The queen wondered out aloud as she opened her eyes and began taking in the smell as well, beginning to slightly drool right away.

"Let's go find out!" The little girl urged her mother by pulling on her sleeves as she got up. When she had seen Inori successfully getting on her feet, she couldn't help but show her a toothy grin, revealing the gap in which her lower left frontal tooth was supposed to be. It had been the very first of her baby teeth to fall out just a few days ago.

Taking her mother's hand, she began guiding her out of the room, into the hallway and from there to the kitchen where, indeed, Papa Shu stood in front of a chopping board, cutting down veggies for the dish he was currently preparing. He was doing so with a very listless expression as he used his arm to wipe off some of the sweat gathering up on his forehead. He wore a red tank top with the logo of EGOIST adorning the front side, together with a pair of black sweat shorts. When Hanae saw that her father was apparently still not done preparing lunch, her high spirits immediately crumbled apart again and left behind but a weak zombie that scuffed towards the brunette man, crashing into him from behind and hugging him weakly.

"Daddy~….Foo~d." She was heard whining again. Her father appeared to be slightly surprised when he felt something small bump into him from behind, but immediately began smiling once he noticed that the culprit had been no one else but his adorable little kid daughter.

"Aww, if it ain't my little sunshine." Turning his head around halfway, he also saw his wife trotting into the kitchen right after their daughter, causing his smile to widen. "And you brought Mama with you, too. You girls hungry?" He asked them, now with the biggest of grins.

"Mh-hm." They just both nodded in unison as they took their positions on each of his sides, checking how close to finishing he actually was.

"Terribly sorry, girls, but the food will still take a bit of time. It will be done soon, though." He reassured them. Inori couldn't hide her disappointment through her narrowed eyes while Hanae opened up her own ones wide in shock once she saw what it actually had been that the king was currently putting into the pot of boiling water.

"Dad! Did you just put broccoli in there? Whyyyyy!" She couldn't help but shake up her father out of desperation and with teary eyes. "How could you!"

However, instead of her father, it was actually Inori who lectured her with a raised finger: "Don't be a picky eater, Hanae. Broccoli is good for you."

"But Moooom! He added carrots, too!" Their daughter cried and pointed at Shu accusingly. Hearing that, Inori immediately stepped back out of shock and regarded her dear husband with nothing but horror in her eyes, protectively hiding her daughter behind her.

"You monster!"

A knowing sigh escaped the father's lips as he continued preparing the food. "You know, you two always complain about my food, but in the end you eat up every last bit of it anyway."

"Lies! We do not!" They both disagreed with narrowed eyes, pretty much mirroring each other.

"Stupid Dad…" Hanae added with a pout.

"Stupid Shu…" Inori said while averting her gaze.

Both could not hide the small blush on their faces because they actually knew deep down that Shu had been absolutely right.

-GC-

About half an hour later, everyone found themselves at the dining table, with Shu putting down a bowl of Udon for each of his girls with a smirk, slightly amused by how they looked at the bowls' contents as if he had poured poison into them.

"Come on. Don't look at it like it's the end of the world. Try it first, will you?" He told them encouragingly while heading back to the kitchen to grab some cups for everyone. He had expected to see many things upon his return, but not how mother and child would actually start pulling out each piece of broccoli or carrot they could spot in their meal and put it into the other one's bowl respectively. Only once Shu cleared his throat did they tense up and stop their actions immediately.

"You will make Daddy cry, you know?" He told them with feigned sadness to which he was surprised to see that not only his daughter starting to look down in shame and guilt but his beloved wife as well. He had to muster all of his self-control not to start laughing at their adorableness. Their actions reminded him of the days he had forced Triton to eat his share of carrots, back when they both had been kids as well. Though the blond boy certainly hadn't liked them any more than the brunette one had, Triton had used to be too much of a pushover to ever resist him anyway. Shu started to grin at the memory. Good times.

Meanwhile, the pink haired girls had given up their resistance and picked up their chopsticks to try out the Udon Papa Shu had made for them. Taking some of the thick wheat flour noodles in between their chopsticks, they brought them up and hesitatingly put them into their mouths, only to slurp them up almost immediately afterwards, their sorrowful eyes changing into sparkling ones from one moment to the next.

"Delicious." They both exclaimed and gleamed at each other in surprise, only to invoke a proud nod from Papa Shu as he put a hand on his chin and closed his eyes knowingly.

"Told you so. I've had plenty of time getting to know your tastes, after all. I know what I need to do to make my girls eat their food."

The pinkettes looked at Shu.

"Papa is amazing!" Hanae cheered with both hands raised into the air happily.

"As expected of Shu." Inori agreed with a kind smile and a small nod.

That was the moment Shu put both his fists on his hips and began laughing heartily. "Yes, praise me more!"

"Seconds, please!" Hanae called and held her empty bowl in front of her expectantly for her mother to refill it. Shu couldn't help but get brought back from his trance-like state once he noticed how Inori refilled both hers as well as their daughter's bowl. A nervous smile could be seen appearing on the troubled king's lips.

"A-already? My, you two have quite the appetite, don't you?"

"It's because it's so tasty, Shu." His wife told him, still smiling.

"I see…" For a moment, Inori's sweet smile managed to make him forget his worries as he kept looking at her dreamily. However, when his daughter held up her bowl again shortly afterwards, he shook his head to snap out of it.

"It's alright to eat to your heart's content, but remember to leave some for Daddy as well, okay?" He told them with a nervous laugh but got no response, which slightly unnerved him. Deciding that he had to act now, he went back into the kitchen to get a bowl and pair of chopsticks for himself, only to see his girls taking yet ANOTHER portion upon his return. He nearly let his bowl fall to the ground from shock as he looked at them in bewilderment.

His dear wife alone had already eaten enough for two grown human beings, making him feel slightly dizzy. It couldn't be…was she pregnant again? She surely would have told him in advance, right? And what the hell was up with Hanae? How did so much food even fit _inside_ such a small body? Where the hell did all the stuff go? Was her void a black hole or something? This was bad, at this rate…

"Uh, hey. You two left something for me, right?" He eventually asked them with a crooked smile. An unpleasant suspicion dawned on him when he saw both of them tensing up at his words right away.

"Don't tell me…" He walked up to the pot of Udon on the center of the table with shaky hands to take a glimpse inside, already dreading the sight he was about to behold. Once he opened up the lid, the king of voids found himself staring at his area of expertise. Though, sadly, it was of a different kind than the one he usually worked with. Yes, indeed. In the pot he found a void. The literal kind. The worst kind. He felt like crying.

"You left me nothing at all…" He said with a whimpering voice as he closed up the lid and slumped down on his knees, head hanging as his tears streamed out of his eyes silently. He honestly felt like a poor farmer whose whole harvest had been taken from him by a plague of locusts. Pink and cute locusts, but gluttonous nonetheless.

But amidst his despair, he suddenly felt a pair of tiny arms wrap themselves around his neck. He lifted up his gaze to stare into the beautiful crimson eyes of his daughter who offered him the shiniest of smiles before giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks for the food, Daddy."

Before he could reply to that in any kind of way, another pair of arms wrapped themselves around him as Inori snuggled up to him, letting her head lean on his shoulder as she allowed herself to sigh dreamily, a content smile on her lips.

"Thanks for the food, dear."

The king felt his sorrows slowly melting away at the warmness that suddenly spread in his heart, however, it wasn't until they both topped it off by closing their eyes and adding a radiating: "We love you~.", suddenly overwhelming him with their limitless affection for him. The feelings appeared so pure to him that he thought he could almost see them shining, illuminating the room in the process.

At this point, the king did not even remember what he had been so sad about in the first place. As he quietly uttered an embarrassed but also very happy laugh, he did not resist in the slightest when the girls pushed him down on the floor and snuggled up to him, where he put his arms around them both, feeling like he would sooner set the world on fire than ever letting go of these two angels of his, ever.

As they had lied there together on the floor, he was not at all surprised to notice how both, his daughter as well as his wife had already fallen asleep in his arms shortly after, causing him to merely smile at them in return. Like mother, like daughter. It never took either of them long to fall asleep. As he kept watching their peaceful sleeping faces, he, too, felt like joining them, disregarding the quiet voice of reason in the back of his head that told him that he still needed to make food for himself. Oh well, he thought, what did it matter? He could always just warm up some pizza for himself later.

And thus, he closed his eyes with a happy smile, letting himself get mesmerized by the rhythmic breathing of his most precious girls. Soon, his consciousness drifted off as well, his mind following his family into the land of dreams.

Gone was the heat and gone was the hunger. All that remained was peace and the smiles of each of them as they lied in each other's arms. Seemingly the happiest family alive right now and ever. And who knew? Perhaps they really were. After all, who was there to doubt it? Would you?

* * *

**This concludes our little tale about the two cutest locusts in existence :P I hope you liked it.**

**What did we learn?**

**Hanae dislikes broccoli**

**Inori dislikes carrots**

**Both love Shu**

**And Shu likes pink locusts. Wait, what?**

**Anyway, I have more where this came from, so if you enjoyed the ride, stick around for more. Not all the chapters of this story will feature this universe, but I certainly have a few more of those up my sleeve.**

**Also, since I am so horribly bad with names, if you think you have a better name for their daughter, feel free to share your ideas with me. I did name their daughter Hanae because I put together the kanji for flower (Hana) and blessing (e) and while the meaning is great and exactly what I needed, the sound of the name doesn't seem to sit well with me. But maybe it's just me.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think. Like always, I am happy to hear from y'all.**


	2. Bedroom Warfare

**Second chapter: Bedroom Warfare**

**Universe: Reclaiming the Throne (ceasefire)**

**Theme: Alternative war for an alternative universe**

"For the hundredth time, Mana. We all ate the food, it was fine." Papa Ouma was heard groaning into a crystal that had been shaped into a small rectangle to be easier to hold. His sister's voice resounded in his mind shortly afterwards.

" _That's because she only screwed mine up, I am telling you."_ She said accusingly.

"It was freaking soup, sis. How the hell could she have screwed up _your_ portion without screwing up everyone else's, too?" He asked her with frustration clearly audible in his voice as he massaged his temples and took a seat on his bed. Inori was on the other side, getting herself dressed for nighttime, given how it was getting late.

" _I don't know? She is_ _ **your**_ _wife, so ask her yourself."_

He noticed said person giving him a look which he could easily translate into: "How long are you going to keep talking, dear? It's time to go to sleep.", so he merely offered her a weak smile in return and raised a finger to signal her it would only take another minute to which she couldn't help but narrow her eyes in annoyance.

"Look, if you hate Inori's cooking so much, why do you insist to come over so often anyway?" Shu then answered his sister by clamping the small crystal between his neck and shoulder while he took off his socks.

" _Well, excuuuse me for wanting to spend time with my family, jackass. Are you trying to tell me I am no longer welcome at your house?"_ He could almost hear her teeth gritting over the crystal connection, although that would have been impossible. He sighed.

"Calm down, no one is saying that. You are free to come whenever you want. That's not the problem. What _is_ the problem is that you and Inori would always end up getting in some sort of dispute and everyone can very well do without that."

" _But it isn't my fucking fault when it was actually her who poisoned my food? Why do you always take her side, huh?"_

He narrowed his eyes on her. Oh, who knew…? Maybe because Inori was kindness incarnate and held no malice in her whatsoever? Unlike a certain sister he had, for that matter. Well, she _did_ get annoyed with Mana at times, but that usually had a reason behind it, unlike Mana who just kept looking for trouble all the time.

"Mana, you two have been in-laws for over half a decade now. Maybe it is time for you to stop treating her as if she was your rival and instead accept her as your family at last?"

To his surprise, Mana didn't yell at him. Instead, she mumbled quietly, almost shyly: _"I…I do view her as family, alright?"_

That, somehow, made him sigh in relief. It meant a lot hearing that out of Mana's mouth…thoughts…whatever.

"Really? That's wonderful. Why don't I hand her the crystal for a sec to let you tell her that directly so you two can finally make up and all is good?"

" _Are you fucking crazy? Don't give her wrong ideas! She will view it as a sign of weakness and go in for the kill!"_ She suddenly yelled at him fiercely, making him flinch and look away with a tired expression. He couldn't really blame his sister for not understanding that Inori wasn't like that since that's just who Mana was. She never had had the opportunity to warm up to someone aside from him and Triton, so she naturally had been bad at making friends with Inori, too. You could say, rather than being a vicious beast, she was just…awkward with people. Sort of like he had been in the past as well.

He believed that, deep down, Mana really wanted to accept Inori, maybe even be her friend, but her rational self couldn't help but be paranoid about it, seeing evil intentions and deceit everywhere, even where there was none. It was quite pitiful in the king's opinion.

"Sis, that's not how Inori is, okay? I believe you should just tell her what you just told me. I think she would be happy to hear it."

" _Never!"_ She told him defiantly and then added: _"In the first place, it should be her who apologizes to me for poisoning me!"_

Shu rolled his eyes. "Do you feel sick, Mana?"

" _No…"_ He could tell she was frowning on the other end of the line. _"But I think my stomach may be acting up soon. I have a feeling, Shu."_

The king chuckled derisively. "Yeah, Mana. That's called flatulence."

"Don't make fun of me, brother. This isn't funny at all. I will…" He couldn't hear the rest of her rant since his wife chose to hug him from behind and take the rectangular flat crystal off his hand, thus severing the connection with the crystal network.

"Sorry, Mana-nee, but it's time to sleep now and you are keeping my husband busy, so I will have to cut this conversation short. Have a good night, sis." Inori kindly spoke into the crystal, followed by putting it away before Mana could reply to her. With that, the discussion was over.

She offered her king a small smile and a peck on his cheek afterwards. "There, no need to thank me." She let go of him again and returned to her side of the bed. "Now let's go to sleep already."

Shu could do little but chuckle at her as he got up from the bed once more to remove the rest of his clothes minus underwear. "You know, Mana will not be happy with getting shut out like that."

His wife could do little but shrug at that, not really minding either way. "Mana is always unhappy. She hates me." The brunette man couldn't help but notice the sadness in her voice, which made him crawl up to her in the bed and hug her from behind with a kind smile.

"Oh, hon. That's not true at all. In fact, she just admitted to me that she views you as family." He told her while gently kissing her bare shoulder. She could do little but narrow her eyes at that with a mischievous smirk as she turned around to him.

"You are such a liar, Shu. I know you just said that to cheer me up."

"But it's the truth. She really did say that." He tried to convince her, only to get silenced by as kiss from her.

"You are sweet, Shu, but we both know Mana will never accept me."

He looked into her kind and loving eyes and sighed slightly, giving up. There was no way he could convince her that he was telling the truth. To be fair, he would probably not have believed it if he had been in her shoes, either, so he merely wrapped his arms around her instead, burying his face into her neck to enjoy her sweet scent.

"Don't worry, Inori. You two will get along eventually." He could feel her smile into him as she softly replied:

"That would be nice."

A smirk appeared on his face soon afterwards. "In the meantime, why don't we two show each other how much we appreciate one another instead? It's been a busy day for both of us. We earned it, didn't we?"" He told her as he suddenly started caressing her neck with kisses, making her open her eyes in surprise for a second before closing them again with a regretful smile.

"Shu, we can't…tomorrow is an early day…" She tried to object, yet Shu couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of any form of resistance. His smirk widened even more as his hand found its way over to her back and the hook of her bra, trying to unfasten it.

"Who cares? Whether you start making crystals at dawn or at noon shouldn't matter to the Genesis, right? After all, they adore you. They would understand if you slept in every once in a while." His face traveled down her collarbone and continued to venture towards the queen's beautiful chest all while planting kisses on his path.

"But…I promised Jun I would be up at seven." Inori managed to say in between a gasp while embracing her beloved husband's head, gently stroking his hair. He laughed slightly once he noticed how much her words and her actions contradicted one another. It was simply too cute.

"We'll tell him we were busy ensuring the Ouma bloodline has enough descendants to go on for all eternity. He will surely forgive us then." He told her mischievously as he began licking and playing with her delicious nipples. She giggled at his response.

"How many would it take to be 'enough', I wonder?"

He looked up at her with a smirk. "I don't know, love. Why don't we continue making them until we can be absolutely sure?"

"Nooooo." She cried playfully and kissed his hair with a smirk of her own. "You will break me."

"Don't worry, I have Hare on speed-dial. No need to hold back at all." His hands traveled down to her hips, his gentle touch on her soft white skin sending electricity through her body. A certain warmness started to spread from deep within her as she closed her eyes. Shu wasn't sure whether she tried to withstand the tingling sensation or embrace it, yet her weak smile suggested the latter.

"If you don't stop doing this, I actually might not be able to hold back on you for much longer…" She admitted truthfully. His smirk grew wider.

"What makes you think I would want you to?"

She opened her eyes again halfway to look at him seductively. "Did you forget what happened the last time you got me horny, Shu?" The voice of her teasing giggle made his heart rate skyrocket.

"Mhm…" He nodded and smiled dreamily at the memory. "We kept going 'til sunrise. There was no stopping you."

"Exactly. Are you sure you are up for that?" She asked him flirtingly while letting a finger travel down his chest with her nail barely touching his skin. The sensation drove him nuts since he wanted to feel more of her, his body hungry for her touch.

"You have no idea how much I want you right now." He smiled at her as he took her hand and kissed its back.

"Oh, I think I have a really good idea how much you want me." She told him with a knowing smirk, sliding her leg in between his and rubbing against the stuff bulb that pressed against the inside of his boxers as if desperately begging to be granted freedom. She took his hand and brought it down to her nether regions where his fingers could feel a certain wetness starting to spread even through the fabric of her panties.

"This place always gets like this when I am with you, too." She admitted with a soft smile. "My body seems to always want to make babies with you."

"Well then, shouldn't we comply?" He asked her playfully as he began stroking her entrance gently. His wife went in for another passionate kiss before looking into his eyes with nothing but affection and love.

"What would make you happier, Shu? A son, or another daughter?" She wanted to know as if she could use his answer to decide the outcome from the start, but Shu merely smiled back at her while closing his eyes and letting his nose brush against hers.

"What does it matter, Inori? As long as it comes from you, it is bound to be a perfect child, just like Hanae."

That was the moment even Shu could feel the switch on Inori finally flipping. A gleam was seen in her eyes as she pushed Shu on his back with a hungry smirk while leaning on his strong chest and eying him lovingly.

"Oh now you have done it, Shu. You cannot say these sweet things to me and expect me to let go of you again easily. Until the morning comes, you will be mine." She told him and moved her other hand below the blanket where his stomach was. However, that didn't seem to be her destination, since she moved even lower, letting her hand slip below his underwear where she took hold of the tip of his shaft to massage it gently. When Shu couldn't help but utter a slight gasp at her actions, she merely giggled at his cuteness and moved her mouth over to his ear, whispering into it with hot air:

"I'll. Squeeze. You. Dry."

Her husband eyed her mischievously and smirked at that declaration. "Really now? So what happened about tomorrow's work?" He asked her teasingly, to which she merely closed her eyes and went in for his neck, kissing it passionately while never letting go of his manhood.

"What work?" He could hear her ask with her sexy voice which made his smirk grow even wider in return. He had her undivided attention now. Everything else just didn't matter to her anymore. Just as it did to him.

But just as he was about to declare to her that he would make her scream tonight, his Genesis ears couldn't help but pick up something strange.

"Inori, do you hear something?" He chose to confirm his suspicions. His wife looked up at him after having worked her way down to his chest in order to tease his vulnerable nipples with her tongue. Her beautiful hair kept tickling the skin of his chest as her hungry eyes met his, moving close to his face to give him a quick kiss before replying with a smile:

"I can only hear our hearts beating in sync, my love." She told him flirtingly which made him smile at her but still ask with worry:

"No, I mean from the hallway. Sounds like something is hitting the floor or something?"

His wife's eyes moved to the left upper corner as she began focusing on her surroundings.

"You are right, there is something, and it is coming closer. Sounds like footsteps?" She had barely finished her sentence when she and her beloved king saw themselves forced to narrow their eyes at each other in realization.

"Oh, no…"

As if on cue, a small girl of six years barged in through the door without even knocking, because, why should she? Wearing nothing but her pink pajamas, she quickly aimed for her parents' bed while storming at it with a courageous battle cry.

"Don't worry, mother, father, I will save you!" She yelled bravely as she jumped right in between them and, while standing on the bed, raised both her arms as if she was summoning something from below. Right afterwards, a crystal wall was erupted right around the bed, keeping the trio locked inside and everything else out, which had probably been the small princess' intention from the start.

Shu listlessly poked the crystal wall with his index finger, noting how sturdy it was. His little sunshine was getting better at this with every passing day. Something inside him felt pride because of this, yet another part of him couldn't help but feel disappointed to have been cockblocked by his own flesh and blood.

"Are you alright, Mom? And you, Dad? Did I make it in time? She asked them, slightly out of breath and with worried eyes.

Her parents, each lying on their side of the bed as they would normally do with Inori being covered under the blanked from the neck down, shared a confused look with each other. Eventually, the pink haired queen chose to ask their daughter with an unsure smile:

"Too late for what, dear?"

"Haven't you been attacked, Mom? I heard you scream: "Noooo!"" She asked with teary eyes, to which her father couldn't help but laugh and embrace his daughter playfully.

"Oh, come here, you." He said while ruffling her hair and laying her down in between them so that she could see that everything was alright and that she was safe here. She cried out in surprise as her father pulled her down onto the bed and kept tickling her, making her cute giggles fill the room.

"No one is under attack, honey. Your mother is the strongest woman in existence and I am with her. Who would be foolish enough to attack us?" He told her reassuringly.

"But…" She tried to object. "I heard her scream." Her mother then put an arm around her daughter as well, letting her nose brush lovingly against her cheek.

"Mommy and Daddy were just fooling around. You know, like we always do." She told her kindly. Naturally, she was talking about the countless times her parents would daringly flirt in broad daylight. It hadn't been a rare sight for anyone close to the family, least of all for the princess, who was actually quite used to it.

"Oh…" Their daughter was seen looking down with acceptance as she realized she had made a mistake, then she puffed up her cheeks with teary eyes and proceeded to smack both her parents' on the head with the side of her hand.

"Stupid Mom and Dad! Making me worry!" She whined weakly and hid her face below the blanket to not show them her teary eyes any more.

"I see, so you came to protect us?" Shu asked his daughter with a smile, not really minding her attack earlier, since it had been way too weak to really hurt him. Hanae did not respond, but merely stuck her head halfway out of the blanked to look at him and nodded slightly.

"Even though it might have been dangerous?" Inori followed up while stroking her daughter's head kindly.

"I…actually didn't think that much. I just heard your scream and wanted to help." She admitted truthfully.

"Oh sweet pea…" Inori kissed her forehead. "Haven't you gotten this quite backwards?"

"It's our job to keep you safe, not the other way around." Papa Shu added to his wife's words.

"But I want to keep you safe, too. I can help." Little Hanae objected, to which their parents only laughed slightly.

"We understand, but, as you can see, there is nothing for you to protect us from." Inori said as she slowly raised her hand to wave it gently at the direction of the crystal wall around them. Hanae's wall began to slowly shrink back into the ground afterwards. Their daughter took a look around the bedroom to realize her mother had been right. There was nothing here to threaten her parents.

"See? Everything is alright. So why don't you go back to bed, Hanae? It's way past your bedtime and you must be tired, aren't you?" Her father offered her kindly, to which she only frowned at him.

"Am not." The cute yawn that followed afterwards gave her away, though. Much to her disdain as her parents began to laugh at her. She narrowed her eyes, realizing that her lie had been exposed, but refused to give up this easily. She really didn't want to go back to her room right now, so she grabbed her father's arm and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Hey, can't we all sleep together? So if something comes later, I can still protect you then?"

This caught her parents by surprise as they blinked at her, followed by sharing a troubled look with each other. But what about their sexy time…?

"Pwease?" She now turned to her mother as well, offering her those adorable puppy eyes that slowly melted all of her mother's opposition away.

With a heavy sigh, she planted a defeated smile on her lips and eventually gave in: "Alright, dear. You can stay for the night."

Shu could do little but throw a sad look her way to which she could only respond with an apologetic one of her own in return.

"Yaaaay!" Hanae cheered happily and thankfully buried her face into the bosom of her mother who had allowed her to stay.

Papa Shu sighed in defeat as he got out of the bed and said:

"Well, looks like I will have to take care of something, then. Since I am going anyway, can I bring you two something on the way back?" He asked his girls with a weak smile as he headed to the door.

"Water!" Hanae demanded and raised her hand accordingly. Her mother only shook her head slowly, signaling that she was fine.

Papa Shu chuckled at his daughter's antics. "One glass of water, coming right up."

On his way out, he grabbed the door handle and threw one last yearning look at his wife before leaving the room with a smile of resignation. Inori bit on her lower lip, visibly pained by having to let him go, knowing fully well that he was about to attend to the stiffness that currently plagued his manhood. The thought of Shu's delicious white love nectar landing in the trash was downright saddening to her. Every drop of it had its rightful place inside her and nowhere else. To think some mere tissue would dare to claim it for itself instead was simply outrageous. What a horrible waste it truly was. Another defeated sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes, leaning back in disappointment as she gently stroked her daughter's hair, finding some comfort in that at least.

"Is something wrong, mother? You seem sad." Hanae wondered as she looked up at her mother. "Am I…a bother, maybe?"

"What? Oh, no, honey. You will never be a bother to me or your father. It's just that you came at a bad time." She told her while holding her close.

"How so?"

Inori smiled at her innocence and said: "Do you know the feeling when you are just about to fall asleep and your mind is about to slip away?"

Her daughter nodded.

"It's pleasant, right?" Another nod. "Well, Mommy and Daddy were just about to get there while holding each other. You kind of surprised us there."

Hanae's eyes opened wide as she gasped in shock. "Really? Oh gosh, I am so sowwy!"

Her mother giggled slightly and offered her a reassuring smile as she kissed her forehead once more.

"Don't be. You couldn't have known. And now we can all three fall asleep together, so it will be even better."

Her daughter's eyes gleamed as she showed her mother her biggest grin and nodded strongly. "Yeah!"

"But you know, I am curious, how come you are still awake at this late hour? It's way past your bedtime." Her mother asked while poking the tip of her daughter's nose with her finger slightly, making her laugh.

"Auntie Mana woke me up via crystal phone. She was so worried of you two because the call she had with Papa suddenly got interrupted, so she asked me if everything was alright. Then I heard your scream and assumed the worst…"

That was the moment Inori's body tensed up as she forced herself to fake a smile and ask her daughter again.

"Did I hear that right, dear? Did you just say Auntie Mana?"

"Yeah, she sounded very worried, Mom. Isn't it nice? You had this horrible fight today, but here she was, still hoping you were alright." Hanae said with an innocent smile. Now it was Inori's turn to puff up her cheeks as an angry vein began appearing on her forehead.

Worried her ass!

This rotten, little, deceiving sorry excuse of a human being that was her sister-in-law… Inori would would show her! Oh, how she would show her!

She reached out for the rectangular flat crystal piece she had taken from Shu before with an evil smile, clenching onto it so hard that cracks appeared on its surface, which immediately repaired itself again in the queen's hand.

" _Mana-nee! I know you are awake, so pick up your damn crystal!"_ Her voice was sent through the crystal network over to the closest crystal Mana was at. Sure enough, Mana established a connection soon enough, as if expecting the call. Her seemingly oh-so-sweet and worried voice filled Inori's mind afterwards.

" _Inori, dear, is that you? Thank god you are well. I was so worried when the connection suddenly broke off with no warning. Surely you could not have intended to cut me off on purpose there, right?"_

An angry smile formed itself on Inori's lips as she forced herself not to throw all the insults that currently swirled around her anger-filled mind against her sister-in-law.

" _My dear and loving sister, surely you would not have had the insolence to wake my sleeping child for your childish need to mess with me?"_

" _But of course not, Inori. I just wanted to make sure nothing_ _ **outrageous**_ _would happen in your bedroom. God forbid poor little Hanae would have to wake up to the screams of her mother being attacked in the middle of the night."_

" _Well con-freaking-gratulations, sis, you have succeeded in that just fine."_ Inori told her with a very displeased frown. The crystal in her hand began glowing in a bright orange to represent the sheer happiness of the person she was talking to as Mana's feelings got sent over to Inori together with her thoughts. Yellow was happiness and red anger, so orange would be the combination of those two, forming some sort of mischievous glee. Something Inori didn't even need to look at the crystal for to know Mana felt it. It had been all too obvious from the delight she barely tried to hide from her as her laughter rang in the younger queen's head.

" _No way, don't tell me something was actually happening? That's just awesome!"_ Mana said in between laughter. _"I had just intended to send Hanae over to make sure you wouldn't be able to enjoy the night if you wanted to, but to think you were actually just about to, makes this even all the more rewarding."_

This…this monster of a woman! How dare she! Just when she had been about to enjoy herself in Shu's arms! Unforgivable! She clenched her fist in anger as she gritted her teeth, but then decided to smirk evilly into the crystal as she replied:

" _Oh yeah? Well, remember that soup you were so upset about today?"_ Mana's voice immedieately lost its gleeful undertone and become curious, even slightly nervous instead.

" _Yeah."_

" _I spat into it."_

" _You what?"_ Mana yelled at her in shock and anger, making it Inori's turn to gleam at her anger, still smiling mischievously while lying back on her pillow and looking up at the ceiling, happy enough to just imagine how her sister-in-law's face must have looked right now. _"I knew it! I freaking knew it, you skunk!"_ Mana continued to yell at her.

Inori's smirk grew even wider. _"Ah, but that's not even all. See, when I say I spat into your soup, I don't mean the nilly-willy one, but the really nasty one, you know? Those kinds where you put your back into it, gathering all of the slime from the back of your throat. That kinda one."_

" _Eeeeeew, the hell's wrong with you? That's fucking disgusting!"_ Mana said, sounding appalled by Inori's actions. The connection broke right afterwards with Inori smirking in triumph and giggling to herself in satisfaction. Oh, sweet, sweet revenge, how delicious you taste. She wasn't all that surprised when she found Gai's voice entering her mind afterwards, sighing at her.

" _Inori, this is you, right?"_ He asked into the crystal. Inori merely greeted him, still obviously in a good mood. It

" _Good evening, Gai. How are you tonight?"_ She asked innocently.

" _Inori, what the hell are you girls doing all the time? Mana is hurling her heart out in the bathroom, cursing your name constantly."_

The queen narrowed her eyes mischievously, still smirking. " _I just told her what she had wanted to hear all along. It doesn't matter whether it's the truth or not."_ True enough, Inori naturally had never done such a thing as spitting into Mana's soup, but Mana would easily believe so anyway because she always believed in what she wanted to believe. She would not have accepted that Inori hadn't spiced up her food under any circumstances, so Inori had chosen to give Mana some ease of mind. Was it her problem that said ease came along with an urge to vomit?

" _Inori…come on. You are the calmer one of the both of you. Can't you try to ease the situation rather than making it worse? I know Mana can be a handful, but she isn't a bad girl by nature…"_

A certain idea crossed the queen right then and there. And oh was it a juicy one. She suppressed a giggle and said:

" _Say, Gai, isn't that what you are there for?"_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _I mean, Mana is feeling bad and will always feel bad after talking to me, but she loves you, so…"_

Gai, being the smart man he was, caught on to Inori's train of thought rather quickly. She could almost hear him smirk once he understood.

" _I see, you may have a point there. If Mana feels bad after talking to you, all I need to do is cheer her up again."_ Of course, he didn't feel the need to mention that he would happily do so since it would mean he would get some as well. That one went without saying. Of course Gai would be eager to jump on the opportunity. He was a man. A smart, cunning and prideful man, but a man nonetheless. He took the bait hook line and sinker, never suspecting anything fishy coming from the innocent queen.

She felt bad for him, really. He would end up having to suffer alongside Mana as a sacrifice so that Inori could get back on her for what she had done to her tonight, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. No war was ever won without some casualties, after all.

" _Go, Gai. Make your queen feel like one tonight. Let all her worries be swept away and fill her head with thoughts of you instead."_ She encouraged him further, happy when she heard his eager voice in response.

" _With pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity, Inori. I owe you one."_

" _No need to thank me."_ She looked away in guilt. There really wasn't a reason to thank her. Sorry, Gai, but you would have to share the punishment that was meant for your queen tonight. She would make it up to him some other time.

When Gai terminated the line, Inori quickly reached out to Jun in her mind, calling her most loyal vassal with the help of her thoughts. It took about ten seconds before a slightly sleepy and confused voice of a young man resounded in her mind.

" _M-My queen. Sorry to make you wait, you called for me?"_ He answered her call while obviously still trying to get his thoughts in order, surely having just woken up.

Inori bit on her lower lip, feeling horrible for having woken up her loyal friend like that, so she said: _"Forgive me, Jun, for waking you so late, but I really need your help."_

" _Please, your highness, do not apologize. I live to serve you. Please tell me, what can this humble man do for you? Is it about tomorrow?"_

She shook her head, despite knowing he couldn't see it.

" _No, Mana has launched an attack against me just now, and I wish for retribution."_

" _An attack?"_ Jun gasped in shock. _"I-is the princess safe?"_

" _My daughter was used against her will for the attack, but don't worry, she will be fine now."_ Inori explained to him while gently stroking her daughter's head who kept staring at her mother in wonder. Who was she talking to for so long?

" _Thank goodness."_ Jun sighed in relief. One could almost imagine how he cleaned off the sweat that must have surely have formed on his forehead with a hankerchief. _"May I ask what kind of attack we are talking about here?"_

Inori narrowed her eyes to assume a serious expression. _"The worst one there could ever be, Jun."_

" _You couldn't mean…?"_

Inori nodded and held back the angry tears that wanted to escape her, still feeling nothing but sadness and disappointment for what had just occurred earlier.

" _She has interrupted the most sacred of rituals between a queen and her king."_ She told him bitterly.

" _O-oh my."_ Jun was heard saying, slightly embarrassed once he figured out what she could have been talking about. He suddenly also understood all too well what must have happed and how Hanae had been "used for an attack". _"Truly unforgivable, my queen. You are right, Queen Mana must be punished for her offense. How can I be of service?"_ He told her, sounding totally serious and ready for anything she might have asked off him. Truly a man in the image of his older brother. Always confident and reliable when you needed him to be. The best servant you could have wished for as a queen.

" _Do you know where Mana lives?" She asked him calmly._

" _But of course, my queen."_

" _Are you also aware that her house has been made fire-proof through the installation of fire prevention sprinklers in every room?"_

" _How could I not be aware? Mana has been bragging about the cutting edge technology in her home to everyone around her, loving to let everyone know about her wealth."_ The brunette man grumbled and sighed in disapproval.

Inori, however, smirked.

" _Good. Here is what you will do:"_ She threw a quick glance at the alarm clock resting next to her on her bed stand amusedly. _"I've come to hear that something hot is about to take place in Queen Mana's bedroom shortly. Since she had showed such heartwarming concern towards me just now, let's make sure the heat doesn't get out of hand, shall we? What do you say we let the sprinklers in their bedroom be_ _ **especially**_ _mindful of the room's temperature?"_

For some reason, she already knew Jun was grinning from ear to ear on the other end of the line. _"Say no more, my queen. My void will take care of it. Consider it done. Anything else?"_

" _Yes, make sure to wait about, let's say, 15 minutes. It should be just enough time for her to really be into it."_ She grinned in anticipation.

" _Your wish is my command, my queen."_ Normally he would have bowed at that line, He likely even did so on the other end of the line. Such a good man. She would make sure to make it up to him as well, later.

" _Thank you, Jun. I appreciate your services, as always."_ She told him kindly.

" _Your words honor me, my queen. If this is all, I will excuse myself and get to the task you have given me."_

" _Of course. Good night, Jun. Sleep well."_

" _You, too, my queen. Please do send my regards to the king and the princess as well."_

" _Of course. See you tomorrow."_

" _Yes."_

The conversation ended with that and the queen placed the crystal down on her nightstand next to her with a satisfied sigh. Now all she had to do was wait. Her king eventually returned right afterwards with a glass of water in his hand. Both he, as well as Hanae couldn't help but wonder why Mama Ouma was humming so happily to herself right now.

"Here's your water, Hanae." Shu said as he handed his daughter the liquid she had requested of him. "Did something good happen while I was gone?" He asked as he crawled into the bad next to his two girls.

"I dunno. Mother has been talking over the crystal network with a scary smile for a while and when she was done, she was like this." Hanae explained to him, followed by gulping down the contents of the glass, sighing in satisfaction when it was empty.

"It's nothing." The queen waved off while offering them both an innocent smile. "Jun sends his regards."

"Jun-sensei did?" Hanae asked while handling the empty glass to her father who put it on the nightstand next to him.

"What did you talk to him about?" Shu asked his wife curiously.

"We held a little war council."

"War?" Shu and Hanae backed off in shock and looked at Inori with bewilderment. "With whom?"

"Queen Mana, of course. She has to pay." Inori said with a serious expression while hitting her fist into her free hand, making her husband and daughter sweatdrop at her.

"Come on now, hon. Is this really necessary?" Her king asked her with a nervous smile, to which she merely narrowed her eyes on him in disapproval.

"Hanae was sent by her just now."

The expression on the king's face darkened immediately, eyes growing colder than ice from one second to the next.

"Crush her bones to dust."

"Eeeeh? Father?" Hanae was shocked to hear his father's stance do such a sudden 180° turn. "You guys are kidding, right?" She laughed nervously.

"Of course, hon." Of course, they were't. No mercy! Kill the evil queen! The evil smile Shu and Inori shared with each other told Hanae more than she really wanted to know.

"Fighting amongst family is prohibited!" The young girl cried desperately, trying to get her parents to see reason.

"Don't worry, sweet pea. It's less fighting and more teaching a lesson." Mother Ouma said with a wink which immediately calmed Hanae down again.

"Oh, so, like a prank?" The little princess asked with a smile.

Inori merely nodded at that, holding back a mischievous snicker. An evil and merciless prank, yet just nonetheless.

The little girl sighed in relief. "Pranks are fun. It should be fine." She yawned tiredly and buried her face in Papa's chest. "Good night, Mama, Papa." She mumbled with closed eyes and smiled when her father put one arm around her, kissing the top of her head.

"Good night, sweetie."

It took only a handful of minutes until their daughter's breathing slowed down and she began snoring quietly in her father's embrace. Once it was obvious that she was, indeed, asleep, he threw a grin his wife's way and asked:

"So, what did you do?"

Inori mirrored his expression, giggling like a young schoolgirl.

"I will give Mana a taste of her own medicine."

Shu narrowed his eyes on his queen knowingly. "That's so deliciously evil that I can barely believe it is coming from my sweet wife."

"You better believe it." Inori replied while reaching out for Shu's face, gently caressing his cheek. "Even I get mean when someone tries to get in between you and me." She narrowed her eyes seductively. " _Especially_ when we are about to make love."

Shu couldn't help but smile weakly. "Inori, don't give me that look, or I'll…"

She pressed a finger on his lips with a regretful smile. "I know, but we can't. She'll wake up." She looked down on their daughter's peaceful resting face. So cute. So innocent. Their biggest treasure lying right between them. She felt the need to hug Hanae from behind and hold her close to her as well, when Shu's voice suddenly caught her attention, stopping her before she could follow up on her plans. With a smile he nudged his head at something behind her.

"Seems like your plan worked. Someone is apparently seeking a conversation with you."

Inori blinked at him once, not initially getting what he meant, but soon caught on once she turned around. The ominous sheen of red greeted her as the flat crystal on her nightstand pulsed with energy. A delighted smirk found its way on her lips right afterwards as she reached out for it eagerly, only throwing a short grin her husband's way, as if saying: "I'll be enjoying this."

Once her hand made contact with the crystal's surface, Mana's enraged voice forced its way into her head. Yet, despite its sheer volume and the clear toxicity of the voice, hearing it was still nothing but music to the younger queen's ears.

" _IIIIINNNNOOOORRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~"_ Her voice yelled, looming in her head like ear piercing sound of thunder.

" _Yeeees?"_ Inori replied with a teasing tone in her voice. She knew exactly what this was about and Mana was well aware of that as well.

" _Don't "Yeees?" me, you, you…"_ Mana growled furiously, trying to come up with an insult, yet coming to the realization that not a single one in existence was bad enough to properly describe how she felt towards her cursed sister-in-law right now.

" _Dear sister, you seem to be upset. I wonder what the cause could be?"_

" _As if you wouldn't know, you filthy animal! Tell me, how did you do it? Huh?"_

" _Do what, Mana?"_ Inori feigned innocence, never dropping her smile.

" _Don't play dumb with me, Inori! The crystal is glowing all orange due to your stupid happiness. It's so obvious it was you. So, how did you know when to trigger the sprinklers above us to go off right when things were about to get good, huh?"_

" _Huh, isn't it just that they went off because the atmosphere was getting too hot?"_

" _Very funny, smartass. Urgh. I am all wet thanks to you, it's disgusting!"_ She whined helplessly. Inori almost burst out into laughter imagining Mana sitting on her bed and looking like a wet poodle.

" _Wow, Mana. I had no idea you felt so strongly for me, but…how do I say this, you see, I am married to Shu so…"_ She said with pretended embarrassment to which Mana could only react in one way.

" _FUCK YOU!"_ This outburst was shortly followed by the sound of breaking glass, either by Mana crushing the crystal in her hand out of anger or because she had thrown it so strongly against the wall that it had shattered afterwards. Either way, it was fairly obvious Mana was furious, which meant only one thing:

"Mission accomplished." She reported to her husband while giggling in amusement. Shu smiled at her in response.

"How mad was she?"

"About as mad as you would expect. She sounded furious. Haven't seen her this angry since she saw me for the first time in the void realm.

"Good. Maybe that will teach her."

"Mhm." She nodded and put the crystal away, followed by lying down on her pillow comfortingly while facing him and the sleeping Hanae. Her content smile never left her.

"You seem happy." He noted.

"How could I not be? Justice has been served and I can now fall asleep next to my adorable daughter and the man I love. This moment right here is happiness." She said while wrapping her hands around their daughter and letting her forehead rest against her king's one who responded by putting his arm around her.

"You are right. This is nice, too." He admitted.

"And about what we were doing earlier…" Inori added with a mischievous smile while bringing her mouth close to his ear. "I'll be looking forward to tomorrow."

He looked into her loving eyes and couldn't help but sigh dreamingly.

"I love you, you know that?"

"I know. And I love you more."

"Now kiss…" They heard Hanae mumble in her sleep with a cheeky grin, causing both of them to laugh at her words while moving closer to grant their daughter's wish.

Unbeknownst to them that this so called "Bedroom warfare" would forever be the only mention of any form of war ever held by those two monarchs in the chronicles of Samukawa Jun who had long since decided to keep record of the Ouma family's reign in his free time.

It would make you wonder what future generations would possibly think, should they ever come to read that certain passage in his records. He secretly hoped he wouldn't be around anymore to answer this question, should it ever be raised.

Some questions, he realized, were better of unanswered.


	3. Great Teacher Samukawa

 

**Third chapter: Great Teacher Samukawa**

**Universe: Reclaiming the Throne (ceasefire)**

**Theme: A Genesis kid's struggle to fit in**

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning when Hanae Ouma decided to watch the sky through the window of the Ouma residence's living room, sighing tiredly as she kept watching the passing clouds with quite some longing in her eyes. How nice it would be to be outside on this beautiful and sunny spring day. There was so much she could be doing right now, so many games she could play. The world was hers to explore and pretty much calling her outside with this breathtaking weather. It was practically as if mother nature was _begging_ her to come out and play. And yet Hanae wasn't. You might wonder why that was the case when the answer to that was actually quite straightforward.

The pink haired girl of 6 years narrowed her eyes and looked forward at a certain brunette man standing in front of a holographic projection of a board, going on and on about stuff she really didn't care about. That's right. It was this guy's fault. Thanks to him and his obsession with boring stuff such as mathematics, the Japanese and English language or even _geography_ , she was basically stuck here doing this wretched thing called "studying". She had these sessions with that man every once in a while. Her parents say it's "school", but if you asked Hanae directly, she would rather describe it as hell.

Oh, by the way. The guy's name? It was Samukawa Jun. And he was Hanae's home tutor. The young princess actually very much liked the man. He usually was quite the kindhearted person who would always treat her well. Sometimes he would visit her parents and bring a present for her as well, and sometimes they would even play games together. He was also very smart and would explain things to her if she asked him about it, and he also answered questions her parents sometimes seemed to deny her answers to. Though, there were some things even he didn't tell her sometimes. Even when she tried forcing him with her princess' authority. Being a kid sucked…restrictions everywhere!

Anyway, Jun-sensei was a cool guy and she enjoyed spending time with him. However, that was only the case as long as he wasn't in "teacher-mode".

"Teacher-mode" took the fun and gentle Jun and transformed him into this serious, no bullshit person she so much despised. It wasn't any fun at all. He would become very strict with her, too, despite her being the goddamn princess!

Her head leaned on her hand while she tried to balance her pen perfectly on her lips, right under her nose, visibly bored out of her mind. Just look at this guy, going on and on about the usefulness of math here and economics there…bla, bla, bla, who gave a damn? She wanted to have fun. Math wasn't fun at all. One day, when she would become queen, she would make sure to abolish math and school as a whole. Yeah. That would teach those boring mathematicians. She smirked mischievously. Eat it, Pythagoras! Your theorem got nothing on her!

That was the moment she felt something hit her forehead with quite some force. Flinching in pain, she began rubbing the spot that had been assaulted with her free hand while checking what it had been that had attacked her in the first place. She didn't need long to identify the projectile that had been launched at her to be, in fact, a dark colored piece of fruit gum. She glared up at her home tutor with gritted teeth and slightly teary eyes.

"Did you just throw candy at me?"

"Aye." Jun responded with a nonchalant tone in his voice, casually grabbing some more fruit gums with his free hand, throwing them upwards and catching them with his mouth in midair, not even getting in the slightest bit bothered by the princess' mean glare. A gentle smile was plastered on his face, but don't let yourself be fooled by that. Hanae knew all too well that this guy had no mercy or kindness in him when he was in "teacher-mode". He was a demon thirsty for blood.

"You can't do that!" She protested angrily.

"I can, if the princess I am supposed to teach lets her mind wander off to places irrelevant to the lesson." He told her with a slight chuckle.

"Jeez, that hurt, you know? I'm gonna tell Dad!" She told him with an evil smirk, thinking she had him cornered with this. Yet the young teacher merely shrugged at her with closed eyes, never dropping his confident smile.

"Please do, Hanae. I sure would appreciate some help disciplining such a naughty little princess. Didn't your parents tell you to pay attention to my class?"

"Ack…!" The pinkette flinched once again, noticing how he had turned the tides on her yet again. Daddy wasn't gonna help her out once he learned of the fact she hadn't paid attention to class in the first place…

"No fair…" She thus grumbled to herself, sulking slightly. "Why did that hurt so much anyway? It's just a piece of squishy gum…" She wondered out aloud while putting the piece of candy in between her right thumb and index finger, squishing it repeatedly in boredom as if to confirm her own words.

"That's due to the laws of physics. If accelerated strongly enough, even a mere piece of candy can become a deadly projectile." He told her confidently before averting his gaze slightly and scratching his cheek. "Well, maybe not deadly, but at least powerful enough to be used against absent-minded students."

"Well, joke's on you, because I'm going to eat it now." She told him cockily as she shoved the piece of candy into her mouth. Her grin was soon to fade, though, getting replaced by a grimace of utter disgust as she discretely put her hands in front of her mouth to spit the abominable treat out again."

"Ewww, is this freaking licorice? Whyyyyyy?" She whined as she stuck out her tongue with teary eyes, clearly not fond of the taste. Of course, Jun had been aware of that which had been the reason he had thrown that particular flavor at her in the first place. Well, the fact that he didn't quite fancy the taste, either, could have also influenced his decision to be honest.

"I used to ask myself why people would produce such an abominable flavor as well, but now that I can use it to direct your attention back at me whenever it drifts away, I actually am quite thankful for its existence." The brunette man chuckled playfully at her. "It would have been such a waste to actually use one of the tasty ones on this naughty little princess now, wouldn't it?" He winked at her, causing her to growl at him.

"I am not naughty. Mom and Dad say I am a good girl!" She objected fiercely, hair standing up like with an angered cat. Her parents weren't liars!

"Good girls pay attention in class, you know." He shrugged with a slight sigh.

"Hmph, class here, school there. So annoying. None of my friends need to know all this stuff…" She defiantly said as she folded her arms in front of her and looked away with a pout.

Jun was seen scratching the back of his head in a troubled fashion. She wasn't wrong about what she had said. The princess, like him, was a Genesis. And not only that, but also one with blessed genes, even among Genesis. The daughter of Eve. Well, not the _real_ Eve per se, but that didn't really matter if the fake's genes were equally as good as the original one's were. Genetics didn't care about titles, after all.

That, in return, meant that Hanae was _incredibly_ gifted. In fact, she was so smart, Jun was shocked how quickly he had managed to go through various subjects with her. He had taught other Genesis children in the void realm before from time to time and while they, too, had been smart, Hanae was simply a genius by comparison.

Still, teaching her was nothing but frustration still. If you asked him why, he would be able to easily tell you: This girl's intelligence may have been _amazing_ , yet her willingness to put it to use was, to put it bluntly, abysmal, making the act of actually putting some knowledge into that tiny, pretty head of hers quite the heroic feat. One that would have even made the epic and ancient quests of Hercules appear as nothing but child play. Jun was, in fact, pretty sure the Greek hero would have easily chosen to fight off some lady with snakes for hair rather than educating this rascal of his. It was such a shame, really, to see all this potential lie unused before him. But he wouldn't be Jun freaking Samukawa if he would allow the honored princess to remain ignorant forever. It was his duty to educate this little devil to the best of his ability. The kingdom, and more importantly, the queen and king _themselves_ depended on him! He would _not_ let them down. Nuh-uh!

Still, he could understand where she was coming from. There weren't many Genesis her age yet, meaning that most of her friends were human. Humans, however, were simply unable to learn as quickly as Genesis could, which meant that Hanae with her mere 6 years was already way beyond them in terms of knowledge. This, naturally, was troublesome for the little princess, since children at that age wouldn't really want to be different from the others. They would just want to make friends and have fun. However, making friends when you were so vastly different was hard.

Frankly speaking, Hanae's superior intelligence alienated herself from her human friends, who couldn't follow her at times. Therefore, the princess, while originally having quite enjoyed learning new stuff, had instead quickly developed a rebellious stance towards further increasing the gap between her and her friend's knowledge in hope of not getting cast away by them. And while Jun could very well sympathize with the young girl's thoughts, that didn't mean he would accept her decision to halt her mental growth.

If anything, the princess' little dilemma had all the more shown him the importance of founding schools for Genesis as soon as possible. If there was a place for likely talented kids to come together and increase their knowledge without having to fear alienating anyone, everyone would profit. As things were now, however, they were still far from achieving this. The Genesis were still a young people. Not only didn't the humans know how to treat them properly yet, the Genesis _themselves_ weren't all that sure, either. In terms of education, who could clearly say how much a Genesis kid would have to learn in a year? Sure, they were smarter, but how much smarter were they on average? There would naturally be smarter and dumber Genesis kids around, so what would be the middle ground? And then again, even though they were smarter, did that really mean they should be taught A LOT more? In the end, they were still children who still needed time for themselves to play and develop on their own. Their intelligence shouldn't be viewed by them as a punishment that would cut into their free-time.

Jun frowned at this line of thought, realizing how clueless he himself was about all this. He called himself a teacher, but he was sad to admit that he, himself, couldn't claim that he knew what he was doing. He had never finished some sort of training to become a teacher. There wasn't a "Genesis teacher" course in university yet and one for humans wouldn't have been accurate anyway. The only thing he could do was to try and teach Hanae in a way he thought was right.

That's why Hanae was getting home tutored by him. The public schools were simply far too slow for her. There had been a bit of trouble at first when he had made the effort to excuse all Genesis children from their compulsory school attendance, but he eventually got the government's support with the help of Shuichiro Keido who scientifically proved that Genesis simply were too smart for school, so instead, they were allowed to stay at home, only ever required to take a mandatory written exam at the end of every school term to move up to the next year. Something Jun could only laugh about, since he knew Hanae could easily take the test for the 6th year already, despite technically still being in the first. He could probably get her to enroll into it right away, but what would be the point if he knew that with her growth, she may actually already be able to enter 8th year by the end of the month. Heck, she might even already be able to graduate from High School by the time she got 7 years old! And then what? Would he have to give her college lectures after that? What a crazy world they lived in, really! Then again, if she ever reached the point in which she couldn't possibly further increase her knowledge without attaining some sort of working experience first, that only meant that she wouldn't be able to grow any further before reaching adulthood because no politician would ever allow under-aged children to work, not even if they were Genesis. Of course, Jun wouldn't support child labor, either, so that was a good thing. Still, it truly was troublesome.

When he noticed the pink haired princess slowly sneaking towards the door that would lead her out of the living room from the corner of his eyes, he quickly shoved those thoughts away and returned to the matter at hand by clearing his throat.

"Going somewhere, princess?"

"Tch, I've been caught." Begrudgingly, she went back to her seat, realizing that her teacher had snapped out of his little space-out session, which had been rare to see as it was.

He sighed at her. "I know you don't see the point in learning all this now, but…"

""… _but you will be happy you learned it all once you get older_.", I know. You keep telling me this, Jun-sensei, but what's the point? I can't see how any of this will ever be useful. And besides, I think I have learned enough math already…" She objected with a frown.

"Hoh…" That was the moment the brunette man smirked at her knowingly. "So you think you are already able to pass the test to move up to 8th grade?"

The princess only lifted her head high with closed eyes, smirking back at him with pride. "Of course. It's easy."

"If that's the case, would milady care for a little wager? If she wins, I will excuse her from school for the rest of the month."

"Really?" Hanae's eyes lit up with excitement once she had heard the young man's proposal. All signs of boredom and unwillingness were blown away instantly, getting replaced by nothing but eagerness. The girl's fighting spirit awoke instantly, causing Jun to chuckle in approval. Just what he had wanted to see.

"However, if the princess loses, she will give it her all to study under her teacher. No more trying to sneak away. No more daydreaming. Do we have a deal?"

The little girl's confidence visibly took a hit from her teacher's words, but Hanae was soon after seen shaking her head and eying Jun with a serious expression, clearly determined to win.

"I trust it that Jun-sensei will remain a gentleman and thus play fair?"

"But of course, princess." He told her with a humble bow. "I would never dare cheat you. The game will be fair for both sides and I fully intend to keep my word should I lose."

"Then I, first princess Hanae Ouma, will accept your challenge! You are on!" Hanae smirked at him excitedly. She would not lose!

"Very well, princess. We shall see who of us will win. Teacher or student." He chuckled amusedly at the young girl's eagerness. He even got her to use her name for their little contest, too. She couldn't back out of this now. "I will give you ten math assignments to solve, each of them covering elements of the curriculum meant for 7th graders to figure out. If you can pass all of them, you win. If you fail one, you lose. Questions?"

"None!" The pinkette shouted excitedly while raising a fist. Jun almost laughed at the cute gesture.

"Then let's start." With a gentle smile he went over to the holographic board and proceeded to write on it with his finger. The projection was able to register the distortion his finger caused and painted the holographic pixels darker wherever that was the case.

"First: Name the highest common factor of 16 and 40." He wrote both numbers next to each other for the princess to see.

"Eight!" Came Hanae's immediate response which earned her an approving nod from Jun.

"Correct." Touching a small spot in the lower right corner of the holographic board caused it to be cleared instantly for him to write the new problem on it. "Next: Which value is greater? 0.4 or 67%?"

"67% would naturally be greater." Hanae responded with a mere shrug as if every grade schooler knew the answer. Well, technically, she was a grade schooler by definition.

"That is also correct. Care to explain why?" Just to eliminate the possibility of her having guessed correctly.

"67% means 67 divided by 100, which would equal 0.67 thus clearly being greater than 0.4. Next, please."

"As you wish. What's -19 times (-2) plus (-19)?"

"Urgh. Negatives….so annoying." Hanae groaned at that one, yet solved it in a few second as well. "Should be 19."

"Impressive. What about 1000-7-7-7-7?" Jun chuckled at himself for that one and was even happier when he saw the princess smile at him in return.

"972. Please don't cut off my fingers, Jason-sensei."

He laughed at that. "Your parents would cut off mine if they knew you understood that reference."

He didn't even dare ask where she had learned of this since he already had the slight suspicion he himself might have been the source all along. And with "slight suspicion" he actually meant "it was freaking obvious". He would sometimes notice certain BDs missing from his shelf back home after the Ouma family had paid him a visit. The discs always returned sometime later, again, after a visit from the Ouma family. He knew, however, that Hanae did not mean any harm with her actions and was aware that she was technically committing theft, as he would often times find a note inside the covers containing the discs reading "Thank you!" or "Sorry for taking these without asking!" accompanied by drawn symbols of hearts or an attempted chibi-drawing of herself looking sorry, at which point he couldn't bring himself to get mad at her. Plus, being aware of Hanae's ability to absorb knowledge as fast as a sponge did with water, he knew the princess just couldn't help it. There was a thirst for knowledge inside that girl that just couldn't be quenched. And since she herself tried so hard to restrict herself from learning _useful_ things, she instead would absorb fiction, since that knowledge didn't seem to scare her friends off as much.

He thus had the unspoken agreement with her that he would turn a blind eye on his BD collection whenever the Ouma family visited him as long as Hanae would always take from a shelf he had designated as her personal library while hiding away material he deemed too harsh for even her in another. While he had always been confident that the girl's high intelligence would allow her to draw a line between fiction and reality, there were certain…media in his possession he still thought shouldn't be left in the hands of a minor. If Hanae was going to drink from a forbidden fountain, he would at least want to direct her away from the fountains that could possibly harm her childhood…or his health, for that matter, should her parents ever find out about it.

"Understood what reference?" She closed her eyes and tilted her head innocently, wearing that aura of pseudo-ignorance better than any Hollywood actor could ever hope to achieve.

"Good girl." He praised her with a weak chuckle. "Well, shall we continue?"

"Yes, please."

That was the moment a knowing smirk appeared on the home tutor's face. He believed it was about time he activated his trap card. Hanae could only raise a brow questioningly once she saw her teacher snickering to himself.

"Find the value of the expressions for the given values of the variables: n + 2 + g, when n = 6 and g = 8."

That was the moment the pinkette's eyes widened in disbelief. What the hell was this crap? Why were there letters amongst the numbers? The hell was she supposed to do with them? You couldn't calculate those!

"Is this supposed to be a joke, Jun-sensei?" She thus asked with a nervous smile as some sweat began appearing on her forehead. He couldn't be serious!

"Nope." The brunette man told her with a smirk as he shook his head slowly. "That's a legit math problem right there. Don't tell me the smart princess who already knows everything can't solve it?" He enjoyed teasing her to his fullest, obviously, which further annoyed her.

"No, take a look at the board once more, Jun-sensei. I believe there is something wrong here. This isn't English class, you know?" She insisted, now slightly angry as she pointed at the board. Jun turned around to it to check for himself, only to turn around once more to confirm that there was nothing wrong there.

"How could there be nothing wrong! Why are there letters where there should be numbers?

"Those are called variables, Hanae. And they are legit." He told her with a tired sigh.

"Liar!" She accused him while pointing her right index finger at him angrily. "You are making this up so that I would lose! Do you take me for a fool just because I am young?"

"Fine, how about this?" He offered her a small smile and shrugged in an "It can't be helped."-fashion before he said: "I will tell you the answer to that problem and you can ask your parents to solve it as well. If they give you the same answer, the problem must be legit, right?"

"Fine!" She told him while sending an challenging glare his way. If Jun wouldn't know better, he would actually be afraid to see sparks coming his way just from how intense the princess was staring at him. She had no intention of losing to him.

She hastily formed a crystal clump in her right hand in order to send her thoughts to her parents through it. Its form looked slightly misshapen and clumsy for which she appeared to be a bit embarrassed for a second once she noticed her teacher lifting a brow at her, but before he could tell her that it was "alright" and that "no one was born a master" with that pitying look of his, she was seen shaking her head and closing her eyes really tightly, apparently deep in concentration. While the brows of her eyes trembled heavily from how much force she used to press them shut, the ugly crystal in her hand gradually changed into a more presentable shape. Completely symmetrical and with a clean, shining surface.

Once done, she hesitantly opened one of her eyes to catch a hasty glimpse at her creation, only to smile as soon as she noticed she had succeeded. At first, it was just out of relief, but eventually also out of pride as she held the small crystal in front of her and towards Jun. It was almost as if she was silently saying "Look! I can do it just fine if I want to!". Her excitement was so genuine and pure, that the royal advisor couldn't help but pat her head slightly with an approving smile. The girl could only giggle at that, but only as long as it took for her thoughts to return to the problem at hand. Opening her eyes wide in realization, she quickly backed off of her home tutor. Her eyes told him "I won't lose!" once more, to which he could only shrug and shake his head ever so slightly with a weak smile.

"Mama! Papa! Can you hear me?" She cried into the crystal while still eying Jun angrily. It was probably meant to scare him off, yet did almost the opposite since she was so little and thus only looked cute even when angry. In an attempt to not chuckle at her adorableness, he chose to close his eyes and take out the flat rectangular crystal he was carrying in his pants' pocket to join in on the conversation.

Not even ten seconds after the princess had called out to her parents, her father's voice entered her mind loud and clearly, yet also with nothing but warmth and kindness. The young girl immediately felt at ease once she felt his mental presence through the crystals. There was this certain aura of security that always tended to linger around her parents.

" _My, my. Is that my little sunshine calling in?"_ He asked her with a small laugh, sounding obviously happy to hear from her for some reason.

"Yes!" She immediately gleamed at him through the crystal..

" _Did you miss Mommy and Daddy? Don't worry, dear. We will be back when it's time for dinner."_

She hastily shook her head. Whether she was aware that her father couldn't see the gesture or not was something Jun wondered about as he held back a snicker.

"That's not it, Dad! I mean, I _do_ miss you, but that's not why I called." She hastily explained to him while waving her free hand around frantically.

" _You didn't? Then is there something wrong, perhaps? Please tell me you didn't break something expensive while practicing your crystal powers…"_ He asked her rather nervously, causing her to shake her head heavily once more.

"Noooo, listen! Jun-sensei is bullying me!" She whined.

" _Hoh?"_ The sheer tone of his king's voice alone made a shiver travel down Jun's spine, despite him knowing he hadn't done anything wrong. A father's protectiveness sure was scary, he thought as he nervously wiped some sweat off his forehead with a smile.

" _Jun, my old friend, what is this about you bullying my adorable little daughter?"_ They both heard the king's voice ask over the crystal connection. It sounded calm and friendly and it was easy to imagine the man smiling on the other end of the line, yet a small sense of protectiveness remained. But that was only natural, of course. Jun knew that any parent would be worried when their child told them they were bullied, even if they secretly knew the child was probably over-reacting.

"Greetings, my king. I assure you, there is nothing to worry, as I am only trying to teach the princess some math." The young teacher told him with a hand on his chest and a humble bow. Noticing that, he was quick to laugh at himself. Guess he couldn't make fun of Hanae for doing unnecessary things out of habit when he was doing the same things as well. How embarrassing.

The king, however, oblivious to all of this, merely chose to share a hearty laugh with both of them.

" _Ahh, math you say? Truly the archenemy of every kid on this planet. I see now what Hanae means. I myself tended to hate it quite a lot."_ He confessed with a hearty laugh.

"No way, my king. Surely you would have aced your classes?" Jun chuckled in response, not even wanting to imagine a scenario in which his king was underperforming.

" _Yeah, except I didn't. I tended to have other things on my mind at the time. Such as voids, and terrorists, and a certain pink haired vocalist we ended up calling our queen."_ The brunette king explained sheepishly which earned him an amused laugh from Jun in return as he shrugged.

"I see. That does make sense, of course. I suppose I, myself, wasn't a good student, either. I tended to be absent most of the time, lazing around on some bed like a crystal rock."

Laughter filled their minds once more, much to the princess' disdain as she couldn't quite follow the conversation. This must be one of these wretched "grown-up conversations" she couldn't figure out. Mainly because those two kept talking about events in the past she couldn't possibly know of.

"Anyway, where's Mom?" She thus asked, hoping to end the topic.

" _Oh, she is currently a bit busy, handing out crystals to everybody. Turns out people have really been waiting for them over here in Austria. There are even a few people from surrounding countries gathering here. Seems people can't wait to get those things."_

"Really? I wanted to go, too!" Hanae whined as she felt as if she had been left out.

" _Nah, you ain't missing much, honey. Your mother is basically handling this by herself. I actually feel more like a glorified hood ornament for her. You know, always tagging along, never really doing anything aside from waving and smiling at the people."_ He sighed. _"There is nothing for me to do here."_

All Jun did was smile at that. "And that's good. If you don't have anything to do, then that means everything is peaceful and you don't have to intervene to enforce the law."

" _Heh. I suppose that's true. It still is boring, though."_ Shu admitted with a slight chuckle.

"Guess that's the burden of kingship, huh."

_"Well, I can manage as long as it's just boredom."_

They laughed again.

"Urgh, enough already! I need your help, Papa!" The princess finally declared with a slight whine to get back to the matter at hand. She could almost see how her father would raise a brow at that.

" _Why? What's wrong?"_

"The princess and I have a small competition running in which she needs to answer ten math problems correctly in order to get excused from school for the rest of the month." Jun explained to the king with a slight chuckle, only to have Hanae growl at him in return.

"HOWEVER…." She eyed him fiercely for a second. "Jun-sensei isn't a good sport and decided to cheat…"

" _Jun? Cheat? What, is the world ending already? Has my sister decided to bring the apocalypse without telling me first?"_ They heard Shu ask them jokingly, obviously having unbreakable faith in his friend's honesty and loyalty.

"I know, right? It's not like him, but halfway in he started using letters to replace numbers! It's outrageous! He even claims they are legit!" She narrowed her eyes on her teacher. "I am beyond disappointed."

" _Letters?" The king sounded a bit surprised at first, only to give his daughter a warm laugh in return. "Honey, that's algebra. It may not look like it, but that's still math. That being said…"_ His tone became concerned afterwards as he seemed to direct his thoughts towards Jun next. _"Isn't algebra kind of a far reach for Hanae, Jun? She is six…"_

"Nonsense, my king. I can assure you that your daughter is more than fit to understand the principle of algebra. In fact, she will be ready to easily pass the final exams of the most remarkable high schools around here in a few months.

This seemed to light up Shu's heart with nothing but pride for his daughter. _"Really? That's amazing, Hanae. Mommy and Daddy are proud of you. To think my little angel turned out to be quite the genius…"_

"But I don't want to be a genius…" Jun could hear her mumble to herself with a frown. Her father didn't hear that since she wasn't saying this over the crystal network. The sight of that troubled Jun. So not even her father's praise could change her mind? How troublesome.

" _So, how can I help my daughter out? Is this some kind of telephone joker thing?"_ They could hear the brunette king ask eagerly. They were both pretty sure he was wearing a smile on his lips, unable to wait helping his dear daughter out.

"Sort of, my king. All you need to do is answer the following problem for her." The royal advisor and teacher explained while writing the answer to the problem on the holographic board for Hanae to see. If the solution her father provided would match the result written on the board, it would proof his point of the math problem being legit. Hanae eyed him determinedly as she silently listened in on them as Jun read out the problem to her father next. She couldn't notice any suspicious actions from her teacher to direct her father into giving the answer he desired.

" _Easy. The answer is 16."_ Shu replied with no hesitation at all, causing Hanae to grit her teeth when she noticed his answer matched the number written on the board. But where the proud father expected to hear the gleaming voice of his thankful daughter, admiring him for helping her in her hour of need, he was shocked to hear her groan in frustration instead.

"Argh! Whyyyyy!"

" _Eh? Was I wrong? But I was sure I did it right…"_ Shu's voice resounded in their minds, audibly confused. Of course he never knew his daughter had wanted him to give them the wrong answer, or downright refuse to do so since it supposedly was impossible.

Frustrated by this, Hanae decided to cry: "Dad, you are useless! Give me Mom!"

" _U-u-useless…!?"_

Jun felt quite the sympathy for his king as he could vividly envision him staring blankly into the air like a fish that had been pulled out of the water. His daughter words had probably hit him harder than a truck ever could. Poor man. All he had wanted was to gain his daughter's admiration. Jun felt the urge to go over there and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Perhaps next time, old friend.

" _Um, Hanae, dear, is that you?"_ A new voice entered the discussion now. A softer and lovelier one, yet not one that deserved any less respect than Shu's did. Of course it was Inori's.

"Mommy!" Hanae quickly exclaimed happily upon hearing her beloved mother's voice. Surely she could count on her at least.

For some reason, though, Hanae heard her mother sigh at her. _"So it was you, after all. I knew it had to be since your father looked so happy while talking over the crystal network, yet he suddenly dropped his crystal and looked like all life was drained out of him. Hanae, please tell me you didn't break something again? I know you don't mean ill, but money doesn't grow on trees, you know…"_ She sounded quite worried there at the end, Jun noticed. This little rascal of theirs seemed to break quite a lot of expensive things, apparently.

"N-no, Mom, you got it all wrong!" Her daughter was quick to fix the misunderstanding, unwilling to get scolded for something she hadn't even done.

" _Oh? Then what else could your father be so shocked about?"_

"It appears the princess has quite the severe way of wording her disappointment, my queen." Jun decided to explain the situation to her. "More importantly, aren't you busy? We would feel awful for keeping you from work."

" _No way, Jun. I will always have time for my daughter."_ Inori merely stated, making her smile almost audible through her voice. Her motherly love could warm any heart, especially Hanae's. If her mother had been in front of her right now, she would have tackled her down and hugged her as hard as she could. Jun, on the other hand, felt very conflicted about his queen's readiness to let thousands of people wait in line in favor of helping her daughter with homework instead. While that showed him how good of a mother she was, the same couldn't be said about her ability to set priorities properly. He made a mental note to remember that additional work was required to balance this out more in the future.

"Mom, I need your help! You have to prove Jun-sensei wrong!"

" _Huh? Jun made an error? How unusual."_

"No such thing happened, my queen. As you, and hopefully your daughter as well, will notice in just a moment. Excuse me for the disturbance, but could you please solve the following problem?"

Again, Jun read out the equation that was meant for Hanae to solve and again, Hanae couldn't find anything suspicious in Jun's voice to manipulate her mother's answer.

" _Ah, algebra. This brings me back. How long has it been, I wonder? The answer is 16, of course."_ The queen responded with quite a bit of delight in her voice, feeling slightly nostalgic about solving old math problems for the first time in years. The last time she had done that was when she had still been in school. Felt like ages ago.

"How could this beeeee?" Hanae cried as she put both her hands at each side of her head while shaking it furiously. Why had both her parents forsaken her?

" _It's easy, honey. You are just meant to substitute the numbers for the corresponding letters."_ Inori kindly explained to her daughter, wishing to be of help.

"What the heck? Why substitute numbers with letters? Why not write the numbers instead? This is bull-"

" _Language, Hanae."_ Her mother's stern voice was heard for a moment, cutting in on her daughter's rant. The young girl quickly ceased to talk while looking down in shame.

"Sorry…" She said, immediately reflecting on her actions. Jun felt the urge to pat her head proudly, but luckily he was able to withstand it.

"Thanks a lot, your grace. With your help, I was able to teach your daughter yet another valuable lesson." He humbly said while offering the defeated girl in front of him a kind smile.

" _Huh? Um, no problem, I guess?"_ The pink haired queen sounded a bit confused as she, naturally, didn't know the whole story behind it. She had probably tilted her head in wonder in her usual Inori-fashion as well. Imagining that alone already made Jun smile amusedly in response.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Mom. You were useless, too." Hanae added quite begrudgingly as she narrowed her eyes in disdain and looked away in frustration, unwilling to even look at Jun's confident face.

" _U-u-useless…!?"_ Jun winced at the shock in her voice as she probably reacted the same way the king had just moments prior. That daughter of hers appeared to be quite merciless with her words. Shu and Inori were such proud parents that even just hearing these words were enough to make them cease to function. Hanae sure was loved, huh.

He felt bad for them because he was aware that Hanae wasn't angry with them but him instead and her letting out her frustration on them was the only way she could vent. It wasn't quite a nice thing of her to do, but she was only a kid who didn't know better. Plus, knowing her, she would realize her mistake soon anyway and apologize once her mood improved again. That's just how the princess worked, he figured. He could lecture her about it, of course, but he doubted it would have any positive effect in her current state. There might not be a need for it in the first place, if she were to correct her mistake on her own later anyway, so he chose to refrain on souring the young one's mood further than he already had.

Neither Shu, nor Inori replied to anything afterwards, probably having severed the connection. While that worried him a little, he knew Shu and Inori were responsible adults who could look after themselves, so he directed his attention back to what was more important right now.

"Well, princess, it would appear it was my win."

He only saw her clenching her fist in anger while looking down. Her face was obstructed by her hair as she began gritting her teeth.

"Shall we carry on with the lesson, then?" He tried asking kindly, hoping she would give him a calm response that way. He was wrong.

"Oh, I will carry on with that lesson alright." She suddenly yelled at him angrily and with tearful eyes as she began forming crystal clumps in her hand and proceeded with throwing them at him in quick succession.

"Here's a problem for you! Happy hippo plus sad panda times kind penguin equals angry birdy. Solve for dolphins!"

Panicked, Jun could do little but trust his reflexes to not only avoid getting damaged by the princess' projectiles, but the apartment's furniture as well. Tracking the crystal objects carefully, he managed to catch the majority of them, followed by dropping them on the ground.

Seeing that even her attacks were meaningless against her adversary, the young princess grew even more frustrated and couldn't hold the tears in that had already formed in her eyes as she slumped to the ground and began hugging her legs tightly in a last ditch effort to hide her crying face.

"Stupid Jun. Cheater. I hate you! And what is this about geniuses? Stupid Papa. Who wants that? Everyone is stupid!" He could hear her cry in between hiccups. A sight that could immediately crush anyone's spirits, as Jun found. Offering her a sympathetic look, he approached her slowly to take a seat next to her.

"It appears that I might have gone too far with my little trick and made the young princess cry. My apologies, Hanae." He began speaking softly to her. She did not respond, but Jun could notice her eyes resting on him. He had her attention at least. Good.

"You must understand that I am not forcing you to go through this because I hate you or want to anger you. I do this because I want you to realize how important your education is because, chances are that, one day, you will be queen, too, just like your mother is now. And I want you to do a good job so that people can look up to and love you, instead of wishing someone else had succeeded your mother, do you understand?"

"I don't wish to succeed mother. She is a fine queen. The best even. She should stay one forever." The pinkette voiced her disagreement while wiping away her tears.

"But don't _you_ want to be one?" He asked her, chuckling slightly.

"Well…" She appeared to think about it for a while. "It would be fun to tell everyone what to do. I could abolish school." Then her face suddenly lit up as a bright idea crossed her mind. "And I could tell everyone that they should throw licorice candy at _you_ whenever they see you!" She grinned at him mischievously while he could only look away with a snicker.

"Well, I guess it's time to ask queen Mana if she would rather have me serve her instead." He shrugged at her playfully, causing her to gasp.

"High treason! I will never allow you to do that!" She declared angrily while shaking him by the shoulder.

"Hoh? I thought the princess hated me…?"

Opening her eyes wide from shock, she quickly averted her gaze to hide her blush while mumbling quietly:

"…..do not…."

The brunette man offered her a relieved sounding sigh at that. "I am relieved, my princess. And here I thought I was no longer invited to your next birthday party."

"Don't you dare not to come!" She suddenly growled at him. "Everyone is coming! Mommy and Daddy always make this huuuge cake and even auntie Mana is trying to not fight with Mama. You absolutely have to come!" Her eyes glittered with determination, causing him to laugh. She had even spread out her arms to demonstrate how big of a cake she would be receiving from her parents. Adorable.

"Alright, I get it. I'll come, I'll come."

"You better do!"

It was quiet for a bit and Jun was happy to see that the young girl's mood had been lifted enough for her to at least no longer cry. He figured that was a good opportunity to ask the serious questions.

"My princess, can I ask you why you hate school so much?" He had the feeling he already knew, but better make sure and confirm it.

"Dumb question. Because it is boring of course." Hanae immediately responded while folding her arms and closing her eyes as if her answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about it is boring?"

"Everything."

"If you could be a bit more specific, maybe I as your teacher could find ways to improve my lessons?"

"Impossible."

"You know, Hanae, when children say they are bored with school, that's usually either because they don't understand what is taught or because it's too easy for them to understand. Now, since I don't seem to have problems teaching you new things, I can only assume it is the latter? Are my lessons to easy? Should I make them harder?"

"No!" She was quick to look at him with eyes opened wide from shock as she pretty much begged him to no do that with the look of her face alone. "Please don't!"

"Why? Do you hate learning?" He asked with a raised brow, causing her to bite down on her lower lip.

"I hate it…" She said, quietly and not looking at him. Well now, that was quite suspicious if you asked him.

"Really?" She didn't respond this time. He saw right through her. Just one last push…

"Your parents sure must be proud of their daughter for being such an honest girl. I will have to tell them all about it once they come back."

You could read the guilt right off the girl's troubled face as she nervously tried to look away before eventually caving under the pressure Jun's innocent smile offered her. Hanae was far too much of a good girl for her to ever be comfortable with lying. Her conscience didn't seem to allow her to.

"I don't hate it…" She mumbled quietly into knees as she began hugging them again. "I want to know all the things. Why the sky is blue and why fire is hot. How my power works, how people get sick and how the virus auntie, Mama and I can control turns them into Genesis. I want to know everything. Understand everything." She confessed now, this time more audible. "But my friends….they don't. And when I try to talk about it, they look at me with these weird eyes. Looks I have never seen before. Not from you, mother, father or even granduncle Keido. It's scary, Jun-sensei."

He knew it. So that what it was all along. He narrowed his eyes at these kids in contempt for a second, feeling nothing but anger for treating the honored princess this way, but then he sighed, forcing himself to calm down. They were children, after all.

"I see. So you try to remain stupid to avoid getting shunned by your friends, huh."

She nodded silently.

"You know, the desire to fit in isn't uncommon for humans and Genesis alike. After all, we aren't beings of solitude. We need others around us to feel happy. However, trying to fit in too much isn't good, either. It is one thing to try and get along with others, and yet entirely another to deliberately adapt your personality to theirs just to fit in. You might end up fitting into the group you wanted to get in that way, but at the cost of everything that made you unique. I made the same mistake once, too."

This caused Hanae to look up at her teacher in wonder.

"No way, Jun-sensei makes mistakes?"

He chuckled at that.

"Well, every once in a blue moon, I just might. Seriously, though, everyone makes mistakes. Me, my brother, your parents, everyone. Evolution doesn't make any of us perfect. When I woke up in the void realm, I saw everyone using all these cool voids and wanted to be a part of the group. However, it turned out that my void wasn't cool at all, so they made fun of me for being different. At first, I felt really bad about it, but then I realized that being different didn't have to be a bad thing. I knew I could do stuff everyone else couldn't, and so I put that to use. I befriended your mother and helped her rule. And in return, I became part of the group anyway. As you can see, the goal is to play your cards correctly."

"And I suppose that means refusing to learn isn't the proper way to play?" Hanae furrowed her brows, trying to understand her teacher's words. It earned her a kind smile and a shake of the head from him in return.

"That's just refusing to play, Hanae. You are the first princess, daughter of Shu and Inori Ouma, gifted with the powers of Eve and immense intelligence. If people fear that or envy you for it, use that intelligence to make them understand that there is nothing to fear. And while I think you have plenty things going for you that people should envy you for, it might probably be for the best to show them that they have things to envy someone for themselves. They might feel less distance between you and them, then."

"Huh, that does make sense…somewhat." The pinkette admitted while putting a finger on her lips, trying to comprehend everything that was just told to her. "But what if I fail?" She asked him somewhat timidly, which was a pretty uncommon sight coming from her.

"Failure is a part of growing up. Everybody fails sometimes. The goal is to learn from your mistakes. Don't worry too much about it, though. Contrary to what you might want to believe, having lots of friends isn't what you should aim for. Rather than that, having one or two really good ones would be better."

"Why is that?" She wondered.

"Because it is better to have a few people to depend on in your hour of need rather than a lot of people who will act like they don't know you when things go south."

"…so I should deliberately cut people off…?" She sounded really sad about that, causing Jun to immediately wave his hands in front of him hastily to correct the misunderstanding.

"No, princess. That's the wrong approach. Rather than cutting people off, just welcome a lot and see which ones are willing to stick around. You can focus on the people really close to you then while letting your distant friends be just that. Ideally, no one should get hurt that way, though there might be a few casualties along the way…" Well, if worse came to worst, she would still have her family to support her, so it should have been fine either way.

"Huh, I think I get it, sensei!" The young girl suddenly raised her fists in eagerness as she grinned. "I won't lose!" She looked so spirited all of a sudden that Jun wouldn't have thought she had been so insecure about this before. Apparently, it didn't take much to fuel the optimistic nature of this girl. He actually feared she might have even been a bit _too_ eager, almost ready to run out of the house and take the world on right this instant. He thought all that energy was better spent learning new stuff instead, which is why he kindly suggested:

"Glad to hear that. Should we perhaps continue with the lesson, then?" Only to get shocked when all her eagerness seemed to leave her again, eyes narrowed down in boredom almost immediately.

"I'd rather not…"

This confused him. He thought they had come to an understanding and resolved the problem of her unwillingness to learn. Had he overlooked something?

"I don't understand. I thought you said you liked learning?" He asked her while scratching his hair confusedly. This girl might be quite the mystery after all. Like mother, like daughter, or so it seemed.

"I do. But I hate math nonetheless." She told him with a sheepish grin as she scratched the back of her head.

Jun could do little but to blink at her, slightly perplexed at first. But then he broke out into a hearty laugh as he finally understood he had fought an impossible battle all along. It hadn't been her unwillingness to learn that had stood in his way of teaching her today, but rather her disinterest in the subject as a whole. Fair enough, he thought. It was time for him to admit defeat. Closing his eyes with a sigh, he eventually said:

"Fine, let's consider this the end of the lesson for today. But I expect more effort from you in the future, alright?" He opened one of his eyes to smile at her as he ruffled her hair causing her to giggle. She immediately beamed at his proposal with a smile brighter than a thousand suns in the middle of July and tackled him down with the strongest hug she could possibly muster.

"Really? Awesome! You're the best, Jun-sensei!"

"Just go before I change my mind." He playfully told her and laughed when he saw her running for the door almost immediately. "But remember to be back for dinner, or your parents will kill me."

"You got it! Bye!" She had waved him good-bye and vanished through the door not even a second later. This girl sure didn't waste but a single second. Sometimes you couldn't even blink or you would have stood at danger missing her altogether. Just where did this child take all her energy from?

He sighed again as he went over to the table he and Hanae had previously been sitting at to collect his stuff and call it a day.

Sometimes he wondered if he wasn't too lenient with her because she was the princess, but then again, who could have stayed strict when faced with that girl's adorableness? As expected of Shu and Inori's child, he thought. Only the best from the best. He smiled proudly as he nodded to himself.

At this point, he would already be happy if she wouldn't end up to be spoiled rotten by her parents. But there was nothing to fear, of course, as he was absolutely confident in Shu and Inori's parenting skills. There was no doubt they would raise their kid to be nothing short of a respectable and polite young lady. With his help of course.

However…

When, later that day, he finally saw Shu and Inori come home from their trip at last, walking through the front door like lifeless zombies surrounded by their very own aura of gloom while constantly muttering "We are useless…" over and over again…he started to believe that maybe, but only maybe, they were in more need of help than he had previously thought…


	4. Boy things, Girl things

**Fourth Chapter: Boy things, girl things**

**Universe: Reclaiming the Throne (ceasefire) [-8 years]**

**Theme: Sisters**

At long last, the time had come. After all those long years stuck in the void realm, after all these long weeks having to get in contact with other nations, forging trade contracts, crafting crystals, establishing laws and whatnot, finally, the single day Mana had circled on her calendar and actually looked forward to for once, had arrived.

Matsuri. The summer festival.

Frankly speaking, it had been hard for her to actually make room for it in her busy schedule, but she hadn't cared. She had worked extra hard and put in extra shifts just to get everything done on time for her to be able to take this single day off.

Why, you may ask? Simple.

For one, it was the first matsuri ever since coming back from the void realm. That alone was reason enough not to miss it. All the food, all the music, all the games, all the fireworks. One would be a fool to miss it. Plus, it was an opportunity to finally wear her yukata! Ufufufu, if you thought she was stunning already, wait for until when you see her change into that dress. All eyes were bound to rest on her.

Which brought her to the second reason why she had been looking forward to it: Triton.

While it was painful to admit, Mana, sadly, hadn't had much time to spend with her lovely Adam lately outside of work. There was so much to do, so much to organize…a young queen had a lot to do to ensure her kingdom would actually be thriving. It may suck, but being queen wasn't just about fun and power. Even someone like Mana understood that…but that didn't mean she would be willing to hold off on seducing her Adam and basking in his love forever. Nuh-uh.

Today she would spare no expenses, wear the best and prettiest yukata, spend hours styling her hair and applying make-up…all for the single goal of making Triton fawn over her.

Yes, that's right. Today, she would not be the queen of the Genesis. Just her beloved Adam's beautiful girlfriend.

Well, at least she should have been. For where her face had supposed to be a gleaming one, radiating in happiness and love, her face right now was…actually not that easy to describe in words…

To make a fitting comparison, you would have to imagine this:

Imagine you told a kid you would take it to Disneyland today. Then, after hours upon hours of driving in your car, you arrive, not at Disneyland, but the dentist instead. When the kid naturally makes a scene, it gets grounded for a week and the dentist then prohibits the further consumption of candy.

Also: Santa wasn't real.

Yeah, now you could probably imagine how Mana currently felt.

Why, you ask? Simple. What should have ended up being a romantic date with Triton, had ended up becoming a double date as soon as they had spotted that idiot brother of hers together with his abominable fiancé…and that's where it all had started to go downhill.

She didn't actually remember who of their stupid men had brought up that moronic suggestion, but now both of them had run off to see who of them would win more prizes for their queens in the various festival games, thus actually having the audacity to leave them to themselves. Them! The highest beings in the world! Alone! To go and play games! Can you believe that?

Sure, they did that to win prizes for them, but Mana hadn't spent the entire afternoon getting all dolled up for that moron of hers just so he could run off and challenge her brother. He was supposed to stay at her side and _adore_ her. That simpleton!

And now, instead of spending time with her beloved Adam, she now found herself being stuck with…Inori…of all people! Why did it have to be her, Kami-sama? She had vowed to be a good girl, had she not? She had made peace with her brother and his adored puppet, had she not? She had not brought another apocalypse, HAD SHE NOT? So why? Why did you punish her so?

She sighed as she threw a glance at her rival queen sitting next to her on that bench, munching away on some shaved ice with strawberry syrup. Contrary to Mana, Inori seemed to be fairly content with her life right now, not minding being stuck with Mana while her fiancé ran off to god knows where. In fact, she seemed to absorb the scenery and all the noises, smells and sights to her utmost best, as if seeing it all for the first time ever. For all Mana knew, it really might have been her first summer festival. The true Eve frowned as she took a bite from her Takoyaki listlessly.

"Why did we have to run into you here of all places…" Mana caught herself muttering under her breath. Inori, however, managed to hear her just fine, being the Genesis she was.

"We live near the same temple, so it was natural we would go to the same festival." She explained drily.

Mana regarded her with shock as she realized Inori was right. How could she have overlooked that obvious flaw in her plan! Oh, how foolish of her…now all was ruined because of that small oversight…

Urgh, but what did it matter now…what was done was done…she couldn't fix it anymore at this point…so she might as well just gulp down her anger before it led to another fight. She was trying to be a good girl, after all. Good girls didn't start beef with their rivals and risk a feud…even though it might be tempting. So very tempting…

Or, well, it used to…in the past. Nowadays, Mana, even though it shocked her herself, found herself to seldom think of ways to torment the girl next to her for some reason. She didn't particularly like her and the fact that she had managed to steal Shu from her…, but ever since Mana had settled for Triton instead, it didn't seem to bother her all that much anymore. Weird, she thought, it wasn't much like her. But oh well, it was better for everyone to get along…more or less.

Deciding to shake off these stupid thoughts, Mana chose to continue the conversation, now that she had already awkwardly started it. How could Shu deal with this girl always being so awfully quiet? It was downright unnerving!

"Can you believe these morons, running off and leaving their queens all alone?" She thus muttered angrily as she chewed on her meal. "What's up with that?"

Inori shrugged, being far more absorbed by her shaved ice than anything else, apparently. "Must be a boy thing."

"Are you not at all upset Shu ditched you and left you with _me_ of all people?"

"Hm? Should I be?" The vassal queen asked with a tilted head.

"Of course you should! Weren't you two supposed to be on a date?"

"We are."

"And yet he left you with me."

"So?"

Mana gritted her teeth. How daft could you be? "That's freaking rude, don't you think? Shouldn't he be at your side and solely care about you? And yet he ran off to be with Triton rather than you. Shouldn't you be jealous at the very least?"

Inori, however, only shook her head slowly. "I actually feel sorry for Gai, to be honest. He and Shu never got to grow up as the friends they were when they were young, so they try to catch up now. However, all the time they have to actually do that is limited to a few occasions here and there. Contrary to that, my day starts by waking up next to Shu and it ends with me falling asleep at his side. I have all the time in the world to spend together with Shu. That's why I feel sorry for Gai who can't." She told her with a sad smile.

Mana found herself surprised at that way of thinking, since there was actually truth to her words. No matter how much Triton had Shu's attention and vice versa…at the end of the day, both of them would return home with their respective queens. Looking at it that way somehow made her feel bad for them as well, knowing full well how Lost Christmas had torn these two boys apart. No time in the world could make up for the time they had lost being best friends. For someone who was supposed to be an empty husk for Mana to embody as a vessel, Inori seemed to be quite wise to realize that, huh.

"Still, to leave you alone with me is quite insensitive of him, is it not?" Mana then asked with a tired sigh.

"Not really."

Mana grunted in displeasure, thinking to see through Inori's lie right away. "You don't have to lie, you know. Given our past, there is no way we could ever get along."

"Why, though? True, I was scared of you, but you seem less scary now."

"Are you trying to say I've grown weak?" the true queen asked angrily while trying to suppress the red glow that was attempting to go off in her eyes.

"It was never the strength I feared but your personality. It's way more cute now ever since you were able to receive Gai's love. I am happy for you, sis." Inori merely replied with a kind smile, causing Mana to back off with a face redder than her own eyes.

"W-wh-who are you calling sis, Bakanori!" The normally so offensive queen was found being forced into the defensive for once.

"Why, you of course, Mana-nee." The vassal queen said with a bright smile. "We will be family soon. I am so happy. I've always wanted a big sister." She added the last part while tilting her head cutely with closed eyes. She also held up her left hand where a beautiful engagement ring adorned her ring finger, its small gemstones sparkling in the festival lights surrounding them. Seeing this, Mana couldn't help but shove her hand away forcefully.

"Y-you haven't married my brother yet. Don't get so full of yourself." She said as she averted her gaze in shame of her blushing face. Damn, why was this girl so overly cute. She wasn't sure if it was supposed to make her sick or happy. Stupid Inori.

"Huh, so will it be fine to call you sis next year when we are finally married?"

Mana pressed her eyes shut in frustration. What kinda question was this supposed to be? Of course it was fine. Don't make her say it, idiot. Or was she after a verbal confession all along? To confirm her rival's newfound weakness? Never! She would never admit it! Inori was not an Ouma yet! She had stolen Shu from her! She held the Eve mutation! As far as Mana was concerned, Inori might as well secretly be aiming at her throne! She could not be trusted! Never would she be allowed into Mana's heart! Remain strong! Remain unapproachable! She was Eve of the apocalypse! She was the queen of the world to come!

And yet…

She glanced at Inori from the corner of her eyes, looking at her soon-to-be sister-in-law with a hopeful expression.

Why was this girl so cute? She was so innocent, so seemingly harmless. Her character was not unlike a puppy begging for love and affection. And how could she not be? Having been born for the sole reason to be a vessel, she held no family bonds, no stability in her life. All she had was Shu and a handful of friends, so was it that surprising she tried to connect with anyone she possibly could? Even if that someone was Mana?

The true queen looked down on herself and frowned bitterly. Inori wanted _her_ to be her sister? Mana, of all people? The one time she had been _supposed_ to be a big sister, she had failed horribly and almost ended up severing her family bonds with Shu as a result. On the list of good siblings, Mana's name was surely not to be found in the upper tiers, if even at all. If anything, Mana wasn't even sure if she even qualified as a sister anymore at all and wasn't merely kept around for formality reasons…

What even could Mana offer in the role of a big sister? She was too stupid to offer guidance, too violent to offer protection or safety and too proud to offer love and affection.

The queen formed a beautiful small crystal in her hand and looked at it with sad eyes. How very fitting it was to compare herself to it, she thought. She, too, was beautiful and valuable, but yet entirely unrefined. Beauty and worth she would always have, but never would she be able to be worn as jewelry, for her edges were sharp and would cut easily and with how unpolished she was, she was far too hard to handle, let alone be worn with joy and pride.

"What does it even mean to be a sister…" Mana muttered to herself bitterly. She wondered if she had ever known in the first place.

"It's a pain in the ass." She suddenly heard a new voice tell her with a sigh. Shocked about this, she flinched when she noticed a blonde girl's face being awfully close. Letting her head rest on the backrest of the bench Inori and Mana were sitting on, she let out a tired sigh while holding a can of cold juice in her hand. Using it to cool her head by pressing it against her warm skin, she proceeded to speak with quite a whiny undertone:

"You always have to share. Everything. And she is always around, so you cannot get rid of her even when she pisses you off. The bathroom is always blocked because ' _she is the older one and therefore goes first'_ " She formed quotation marks with her hands and rolled her eyes to emphasize her annoyance during the last part. "And when it's her turn to do the dishes, she always ditches." She grumbled in annoyance and cracked the can open to take a sip of the juice inside.

"Ah, Zoe. Good evening." Inori greeted the young girl with a friendly wave, only to get hugged from behind in a matter of seconds.

"Aww, how come you can always tell us apart, Ino-nee? No fair."

"Abby hates doing the dishes." Inori merely could offer her reasoning with a smile, never seeming to mind Zoe's desire to facehug everyone.

The lone twin grinned at her. "She does, doesn't she."

"You brought your trainee maid as well?" Mana asked with narrowed eyes, only to have Zoe shake her head at her.

"No, your majesty. She gave us the day off. My sister and I came to enjoy the festival as well, but I got sent off to buy drinks."

"But you only had one and you are already drinking it." Mana couldn't help but note, which caused the younger girl to blush heavily as she averted her gaze.

"I _miiight_ have gotten carried away when I went past all the food stalls and spent too much money on sweets. There was no more money to buy one for Abby." For what it was worth, she did seem to feel terribly sorry about her actions for how whiny she sounded. "She is gonna be so angry…"

"So what? From what you have said, you and your sister don't seem to get along that much anyway…" The true Eve said.

"Uuuuu~…" Zoe pouted and looked away in shame. "Maybe, but she is still my sister. She may be annoying at times, but she is always there for me when I need her. When I am sad, she comforts me. When I am angry, she makes me laugh and when I am in trouble, she always bails me out. I love her. She is the best sister I could wish for. But don't tell her that, it will get to her head." The sole twin said with a frown and tried to hide her blush by looking away with a pout. Inori couldn't help but pat her on the head approvingly. That's right. You should always be honest about your feelings.

"So, Zoe. You said you tried a lot of sweets." Inori decided to ask her little maid in training with a smile.

"Yes, Ma'am." For some reason Mana couldn't quite comprehend, the little girl answered with a salute. It was cute, tho.

"Any recommendations?" Inori asked her eagerly, eyes sparkling with anticipation. Oh, that's right. For her, everything here was quite new.

The younger girl brought both fists to her face and responded dreamily. "Your highness, you have to try the candied food they sell here. They are all delicious. They have apples, and strawberries and…" She began counting the various flavors with her fingers but appeared to be struggling with finding the correct word. "…uh…what's the word again…? Like lemons but orange?"

"Mikan?" Inori tried to help by guessing what she meant. Oranges.

"That's the one!" Zoe nodded excitedly and pointed at her queen in confirmation. Hearing this, Mana couldn't help but offer some astonishment.

"Oh, they actually sell Mikan Ame here? Lucky. Not all festivals have those."

This, for some reason, caught the rival queen's interest. Could it be? Rare food? She grabbed Zoe's hand with her right one and took out her purse with her other one, producing some money in an instant.

"Zoe…" She spoke seriously, causing the girl to tense up nervously.

"Y-yes?"

"I have a mission for you. Go and buy me some of that Mikan Ame, would you?" She asked of her with a smile.

"B-but Ino-nee, that's too much. It's not that expensive, you know?"

That's when Inori came closer to her ear and whispered: "You can spend the rest however you want. But don't forget your sister this time."

The younger girl gleamed at her. "You mean it?"

The pinkette nodded amusedly, followed by raising a fist excitedly, eyes sparkling. "Remember: Try ALL THE THINGS!"

"Inoriiiii-samaaaaaaa, I love you!" Zoe exclaimed joyfully as she nearly tackled her queen down in an attempt to hug her, rubbing her cheek against Inori's. Then she saluted again before storming off. "Leave it to me!"

"Enjoy the festival. And take care of your sister!" Inori yelled after her and waved her goodbye.

"You spoil her way too much…" Mana couldn't help but tell her with narrowed eyes.

"You think? But it's the summer festival, you know. Plus, she is such a good and hard working girl. I think she earned it." Inori stated her reasoning while placing a finger on her lips thoughtfully.

"Suuuure, and you being such a big softy has no part in it, no doubt." Mana retorted with a knowing grin.

"Happy children are the cutest." Inori admitted with a sheepish smile as she brought both her hands to her cheeks and sighed dreamily with closed eyes. "They always make me smile."

"Seriously, what is it with you and kids? Are you their queen or their mother?"

Inori looked at her in puzzlement. "What's the difference? Both protect and look over their subjects or children, so aren't queens merely mothers on a grander scale? Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed in epiphany as she hit her palm with her fist and grinned. "Like grandm-"

"If you are calling us grandmothers, I will hurt you. Hard." The true queen interrupted her soon to be sister with narrowed eyes as she pinched her cheek.

Pushing Mana off and rubbing her aching cheek in displeasure afterwards, Inori meekly retorted while looking away: "I was gonna say grandmamas, meanie."

"That's even worse."

"No, it's not.

"It is."

Inori did not respond afterwards, instead opting in on blowing up her cheeks angrily and silently munching away on the remainder of her shaved ice, obviously sulking. Stupid Mana.

Mana, for her part, merely turned away from her coldly and leaned her head on her hand as she sighed and waited for her idiot boyfriend to be done with his games.

As time continued to pass between them in silence, however, Mana soon realized how her attention shifted back to her vassal queen as she looked at her from the corner of her eyes, being somewhat amused with her sulky expression. She didn't know why she suddenly felt the urge to pat her on the head repeatedly to make her teary expression go away.

She blinked at her own thoughts. What the hell? Was she sick? Did she have a fever? Why would she _ever_ be nice to this girl? Sure, she had agreed to not be mean to her, but that didn't mean she would start being awfully friendly with her, you know? What the hell was wrong with her? Was she actually growing weak? Perhaps she should bring the apocalypse now while she still had the chance?

She didn't want to, tho…life was good as it was right now. And every time she had tried to bring the apocalypse in the past, life had ended up becoming harsh afterwards.

And besides, maybe it wasn't so bad? To be a proper big sis for once. Shu and Gai might have missed out on being best friends, but Mana had missed out on being a big sister, too. It would never be the same as it would have been with Shu, but perhaps being this girl's sister would be acceptable at least?

Plus, there were things she could do with a sister you couldn't do with a brother. It might be fun, after all.

"Hey…" The true queen eventually forced herself to speak up with a conflicted expression. Ugh, she was not good at stuff like this. At all. Still, someone had to break the ice, no?

"Still think we would make good sisters?" She inquired carefully, still shyly avoiding eye contact. How odd coming from someone like her. She was Eve of the apocalypse. She feared no one. Stood down to no one. Yet growing closer to this girl somewhat got her all flustered. What a joke…wasn't she better than this? _Come on, Mana. You are a big girl, you can do this_ , she thought to herself.

"'Course I do." Inori mumbled quietly, fumbling around with her hair nervously. Wow, this situation must have been _really_ awkward if even someone like _her_ was sensing it.

Alright, that was it. Mana gathered all her resolve and with closed eyes, decided to announce: "Then-"

"Ah, your grace!" She suddenly got interrupted by a brunette man she recognized to be one of Inori's vassals. And just like that, all her resolve had been poured down the drain.

_How dare you interrupt me, you sorry excuse of a human being! Do you wish to invoke the fury of Eve that badly? Come then, I will make you disappear from the face of the earth like the insignificant waste of space you are, you-, you-!_

Although Mana's thoughts were fierce and unforgiving, she still somehow managed to camouflage her wrath so that the only indicator of it were her slightly shaking and clenched fists. The glow in her eyes was also carefully masked under her closed eyelids.

_Calm down, Mana, do not cause a scene in the middle of the festival. No need for a Lost Summer Festival, right? Be patient. Be composed. Slowly count to ten. One, two, three, four, five, six….seven…eight…_

She carefully breathed in, then out. When she opened her eyes at last, there was no glow to be seen in them. Realizing she had managed to calm down, she allowed herself to relax soon after.

"Oh, and Queen Mana is with you as well. Pardon me for not noticing immediately, your highness." The younger man finally managed to find his way through the crowd and offered the two queens an elegant bow, while kissing each of their hands politely. Mana's first, then Inori's.

This brought a smile on Mana's lips and she allowed herself to nod at this man in approval. Perhaps she had been a bit rash in her thinking when she had cursed this man to damnation for his simple mistake. He may have interrupted her mid-speech, but it seemed to have been a mere accident and he actually showed her proper etiquette to make up for his blunder. An actual gentleman. Such a rare sight these days. How Inori had managed to acquire him for her court will forever be a mystery to Mana. Too bad they couldn't just trade around retainers from one queen to another, could they? Perhaps Inori could part with him if Mana offered her Hirohide Nanba for him? Heck, she might even throw in some of Gai's useless baboons in as well…that smugface Sasaki, for example. Ugh, how she hated to see that stupid grin every time she…

But then Mana dismissed that thought with a heavy sight. No, it would be rude to do that to Inori. Plus, her own court wasn't that bad to begin with…just a bit less…polite and elegant than she would have liked. Who knew, perhaps that would change with time? This monarchy business was new for them all, after all.

"How fortunate of me to run into you both at this fine evening. And yet it is also quite a shame, for now this marvelous festival's atmosphere pales in comparison to your majestic beauty." He told them with a playful grin.

"Quite the charmer, isn't he?" Mana asked Inori in mild amusement. At last, SOMEONE was actually treating her like a queen…even though her own Adam didn't. Perhaps she should fool around with this one for a bit? He _was_ kinda cute…and if Gai was gonna get jealous as a result, things would get even more interesting afterwards. That would surely teach him to leave his queen all alone, right?

She sighed internally. Not like she would ever do that…  
Scenarios like these always look fun and exciting in your head, but in reality they always end up being a mess.

"Jun is good at making friends, that's for sure. It is very hard to dislike him." Inori agreed with a small giggle, finding her trusted vassal's antics as amusing and charming as ever. She was aware he was trying especially hard because of Mana's presence which made his extravagant behavior all the more funny to her who was more used to his normally rather casual flattery. Even someone like Jun can grow slightly nervous in the presence of Eve, huh. Probably because he was afraid of accidentally angering the short tempered Eve and cause a conflict.

"Your words are too kind, my queen. Is everything to your liking?" Jun inquired politely as he put one hand on his chest and his other behind his back, bowing slightly as if to say he would see to it, should anything, in fact, actually not be to her enjoyment.

"Why yes, everything is just wonderful, Jun. Were you enjoying the festivities as well?" Inori replied with a friendly smile.

"Yes. I came here with my brother, but lots of women kept swarming us and we got separated…I managed to lose them, but I can't seem to find big brother." The younger Samukawa scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I am afraid he didn't even attempt to lose them in the first place and is fooling around somewhere."

"Should have done the same, then." Mana said with a shrug, to which Jun could only reply sheepishly.

"Perhaps you are right, your majesty. It's just that they were all so pushy…I guess I panicked."

This made her grin at him knowingly. "Oh, I bet. You seem to be the perfect prey for the more predatory kind of women. Believe me, I could tell, being one myself." She chuckled in amusement when she saw him gulp at her nervously. "See? Such a cute reaction. I bet many a girl would have a field trip with you if she ever were to get her claws on you."

"While my fantasy is awfully intrigued with the possibilities such an arrangement might bring along, I cannot help but feel slightly worried for my personal wellbeing, should I actually risk approaching these women again. After all, their eyes were hungrier than even my queen's very own ones right before lunch." He told her with a nervous smile, causing Mana to burst out into laughter.

"My, my. That _does_ sound terrifying. "

Inori, however, was not so amused. Narrowing her eyes on the brunette man, she said in a displeased sounding voice: "Huuuuh, now that you mention it, I kind of _do_ feel hungry…perhaps I should take a bite…?" She grabbed him by the wrist and opened up her mouth, leaving her spotless teeth in plain sight. When Jun was forced to witness his hand getting dragged closer and closer to his queen's mouth, he began sweating nervously.

"Ah-ah, surely you jest, my queen? When I was talking about getting eaten, I wasn't implying the literal way. I was merely kidding, you see? No need to get this angry, right? Mercy!" While he was nervously trying to get out of this tricky situation, he remembered something that could help him to get the queen's attention. "Oh, that's right! We have sold out our entire batch of merchandise. Does anyone care to have a look?" He produced a holo-tablet and waved it around like bait, thus successfully distracting them both from their previous topic.

"Already? It has not even been two weeks yet." Inori asked him while blinking at him in mild surprise, letting go of him in the process. Strike!

"Yes! It was a total success!" The royal adviser declared happily as he handed them the tablet containing various charts and tables filled with data about the sale. "The demand was, in fact, so high, that we have already started production of more merchandise. Like we predicted, the Genesis' love for their queens is enormous and fans were eager to show it. The fact that the profits will be used to finance not only the royal wedding the coming year but also help founding our official nation might have played a big part in their decision to buy out our stock as well." He explained to them proudly.

"Amazing." Mana found herself seriously impressed by this and read the data with a proud smile. Ah, the support of her cute vassals was really heartwarming…but then she spotted something that made her raise a brow in wonder. "Wait a minute, we ordered less merchandise of Inori than of me, yes?"

"Yes, since her followership was significantly smaller than yours, it seemed to be appropriate. It would have been a shame to be left sitting on a mountain of goods with no customers to take them…" Jun explained while scratching the back of his head knowingly.

"Yeah, so why are her earnings nearly equal to mine?" Mana wondered. That didn't make any sense. If she had less stock to sell, she shouldn't have made even close to how much Mana had made.

"Ah, it turns out Queen Inori is also quite popular with the human population. EGOIST fans threw themselves at the merchandise before the Genesis could due o their readiness to pay more. The Genesis felt insulted by this and, in return, offered to pay more as well. The price rose incredibly, resulting in us making unbelievable profit. Especially the figurines which made more than double the original price."

"Ah, how splendid!" Inori said happily and clapped her hands together in joy as she threw a look at the sales figures as well. "With these profits, we will be able to throw a big enough wedding ceremony to invite the whole kingdom. I was worried we couldn't invite everyone. I wanted them all to celebrate together with us."

"Now they can, your grace." Jun assured her with a confident nod, followed by smiling nervously. "Although organizing it will end up being no easy feat…"

"Pfff, I guess it's no big surprise Inori's dolls sold for more, given how she was a soulless puppet to begin with." Mana muttered in displeasure and rolled her eyes.

Hearing this, Inori narrowed her eyes at her angrily and brought up her hand to her mouth to mask a mischievous smirk. "Aww, poor, poor Mana-nee. So bitter because I did better than you for once."

"Pah! Better? Just because you had a headstart with your puny idol band? Don't get full of yourself, love." Mana retorted as she pinched Inori's cheek mockingly, followed by turning around arrogantly with folded arms. "Everyone knows _I_ am the real queen here and _you_ will never be more than a pathetic _fake_."

"Is that so…? Then how come the glorious Queen Mana's figurines sell for merely…" Inori asked, now visibly annoyed as she brought her lips close to Mana's ear and whispered teasingly, still smirking: "Half. The. Price?"

"Okay, that's it. You've asked for it! You. Are. Going. Down." Mana then declared furiously as her eyes began glowing in a bright red again. She reached out to grab Inori by the throat to strangle her.

"Whooops, did I hit a nerve, Onee-samaaaaa?" The vassal queen mischievously asked as she effortlessly evaded the angry monarch's grasp and began running away playfully, continuing to avoid all the crystal projectiles launched at her in an attempt to hurt her.

"Get back here you skunk, let me _welcome_ you to the family properly!" Mana yelled with a scary smile as she chased after her, thirsty for blood.

"Oh my…maybe I shouldn't have told them…?" Jun asked himself worriedly as he watched them run off into the distance.

At the same time, a certain Adam approached him together with his best friend, holding their huge prizes in their hands.

"See, I obviously am better than you at this, having won the main prize for Mana." Gai said with a proud grin as he held up a giant pink plush bear he had scored for his queen. "But don't feel too bad about it, Shu. Few people could boast about being able to at least keep up with _Adam_ , right?

"Oh please." Shu laughed smugly and rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed. "You only won because that dude ran out of fish for us to scoop. Plus, I was aiming at the second prize anyway. Inori will _love_ this." He held up a slightly smaller plush cat…or mouse…he wasn't really sure. It was so fat and round, it could have been anything. It didn't really matter, though, since all it needed to be was big and cute.

That's when they finally arrived at the bench they had left their queens at, only to find Jun in their place.

"Oh, if it isn't Jun. Good to see you, my friend. Good timing, too. Please explain to this idiot how my prize is obviously the better one." Shu asked his brunette friend and threw a cheeky grin into Gai's direction.

"No, no. You see. That king of yours obviously has not fully recovered from his blindness yet since he seems to have problem seeing how my prize is way superior. Would you kindly tell him that for me?"

"Ah, greetings, your Excellencies." Jun quickly turned around to them with a big smile, only to get shocked at the size of their prizes…even just carrying them seems like a hassle, given their size. Nervously backing away, he replied: "Even if you asked me, I am sure both prizes are worthy enough of befitting either queen."

Gai sighed at that response. "Oi, oi, what's with this political correct answer?"

This made Shu laugh heartily. "That's Jun for you. Always the people pleaser." Then he looked around. "Speaking of queens, where are they? Do you know something?"

The brunette court advisor could do little but smile awkwardly as he pointed into the direction of both queens who were now busy running around the perimeters. One launching endless amounts of crystal rocks at her rival while the other one was merely dancing around all of them as she continued to run away, laughing playfully.

"Didn't even breach the 10.000 Yen mark~" Queen Inori sang teasingly, ducking under another projectile narrowly but still with ease.

"Shaaaadaaaaaaap!" Queen Mana yelled embarrassedly at the top of her lungs, her face apparently facing off in a competition with her eyes to see which of them could be redder.

Both kings merely stared at them from afar with eyes narrowed down in disbelief, clearly speechless about their precious girlfriends' behavior.

"What the hell are they doing?" Gai voiced his thoughts with a deep sigh, shaking his head in annoyance.

His best friend could only offer him a nonchalant shrug. "Must be a girl thing." That's when his eyes wandered off to the side and spotted something that caught his interest. Elbowing his blond friend, he asked him with a smirk: "Hey, see what I see?"

"Hm?" The man in question followed the brunette's gaze and, eventually, his eyes fell on another stand challenging its customers to win prizes by shooting at targets with air guns. A confident grin appreared on his royal lips as he nodded understandingly. "Round two."

"Please hold onto this for a sec, Jun." Shu said as he shoved his plushy into the younger man's hands.

"Mine, too, if you may." Gai mirrored his friend's actions, followed by trailing right after him, eyes firmly set on the stand like a predator would have on its prey.

"B-but my lords! Ouf!" Before the poor retainer could say anything, he had already been entrusted with the royal treasures. As he was forced to watch both kings walk off into the distance, he silently accepted defeat and took a seat on the bench as he patiently awaited their return with one giant plushy in each of his arms.

When many visitors couldn't help but throw curious glances at him as they passed him by, Jun could do little but sigh and hide his embarrassment with a frown.

All of this was thanks to his idiot brother's betrayal. Just you wait, big bro. A Samukawa never forgot. A Samukawa never gave up. They endured. They would remember. And when the time of retribution was finally upon them…

He smirked evilly.

They were the last to laugh.

"Look, look, mother. That man is sitting alone with huge plushies!" A passing by kid urged his mother to look at Jun.

"Don't look at him, dear."

Jun pressed his eyes shut, his brows quivering with anger.

Retribution couldn't come quick enough…


End file.
